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EX- CHIEF- JUSTICE OF ILLINOIS _ 



A Summer in Norway ; 



WITH NOTES ON 



THE INDUSTRIES, HABITS, CUSTOMS AND PECULIARITIES OF THE 
PEOPLE, THE HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS OF THE 
COUNTRY, ITS CLIMATE, TOPOGRAPHY 
AND PRODUCTIONS. 



ALSO, AN ACCOUNT OF THE 



RED-DEER, REINDEER AND ELK. 



By JOHN DEAN CATON, LL.D., 

Ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois. 



CHICAGO: 
JANSEN, MCCLURG AND COMPANY. 



Copyright, 1875, 
By JANSEN, MCCLURG AND COMPANY. 



KNIGHT £ LSCHARD . I 



ELECTROTYPED BY A. ZEESE & CO. 



PREFACE. 



Having lost the book in which I had briefly noted down 
the incidents of my visit and travel through Norway, I tried 
to supply its place from memory. The attempt to do this 
resulted in the more voluminous record contained in this 
volume. Then came the suggestion that what I had written, 
and had been read with interest by those who had seen the 
manuscript, would be of interest to the public, especially as 
it related to a country and a people not as familiarly known 
to many, at least, as other countries in Europe. 

I put the manuscript in the hands of the publishers with 
much doubt and hesitation, hoping, however, that they will 
not be disappointed in their estimate and judgment of what 
may interest the public. 

Ottawa, III., March, 1875. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

Interest in Scandinavia; causes therefor; what we know of Nor- 
way; the route to Norway; arrive in London; start from Hull; 
limited accommodations; crossing the North Sea: the passen- 
gers: the protecting islands; stop at Aaiesund, 9 

CHAPTER II. 

Absence of docks in Norway; primitive mode of landing: dav 
succeeds dav without night; singular sensations; sleeping in 
day-time; British sportsmen; tax on provisions; salmon-fishing 
in Norway; lease of the rivers to Englishmen: a day at the 
fishing-grounds; manner of fishing; Mr. Burrows, a veteran 
fisher; habits of salmon; dine on a fifty-thousand-dollar salmon, 25 

CHAPTER III. 
Continue the voyage; among the islands; scenery and sights: red 
deer; its island home; fishers' huts; Trondhjem; ancient cap- 
ital of Norway; meet Hattram, our interpreter; landing and 
reception; Norwegian salutations; the streets; flowers; the ho- 
tel ; Norway beds ; down coverlets ; . stroll through Trondhjem ; 
politeness of the people; an agreeable acquaintance 35 

CHAPTER IV. 
Norwegian history; Olaf Tryggveson; his romantic story: is sold 
into slavery; kills his captor; turns sea-king; wonderful prow- 
ess ; harries the nations ; marries an Irish princess ; becomes a 
Christian; ascends the throne; Christianity in Norway; found- 
ing of Trondhjem, 47 



2 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 

The great cathedral; Olaf the Holy; miraculous spring; kings 
crowned at Trondhjem; present dynasty; union between Nor- 
way and Sweden; population; steamship lines; variety of lan- 
guages spoken ; environs of the city, 59 

CHAPTER VI. 
Steamer accommodations; cheapness of travel; Norwegian miles; 
the currency ; rates of watermen ; embarkation ; reasons why 
docks not used; daylight at midnight; . popular celebration of 
midsummer night; among the islands; their number; cod fish- 
ing, catching, diwing and packing; meals on the steamer; the 
flat-bread, . . 69 

CHAPTER VII. 
Coast towns and people ; local travel and traffic ; no baggage 
smashing ; Torghatten ; the natural tunnel ; the Seven Sisters ; 
entering the snow area; the Horseman's Island; legend of 
the horseman and the tunnel ; the midnight sun ; strange sen- 
sations produced; a school for myths, 83 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Arctic Circle; the island fishermen; snows and silvery 
streams; light and shade at midnight; eider ducks; gathering 
the down ; the trade in down ; the eider family in Norway ; 
Bodo; a good time with the children; their good behavior; 
flowering moss; an accident; leave Bodo; peculiar fish; arrive 
at Tromso, • 95 

CHAPTER IX. 
Arrive at Hammerfest; excursion by land and water to North 
Cape ; the trip to Vadso ; improved whaling ; extent of the 
business; another visit to North Cape; hotel accommodations; 
primitive habits ; most northern town in the w r orld ; moderate 
temperature; navigation never interrupted by ice in Norway; 
the effect of the Gulf Stream, 111 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER X. 

Hammerfest; its commerce and oil factories; cod-fishing; the Sei; 
the fishermen ; religion and education ; hostility to Catholics ; 
confirmation and suffrage ; general education ; the Lapps ; his- 
tory and language; nomadic or mountain Lapps; social distinc- 
tions; family relations, dress, physical qualities; an insane 
bridegroom; domestic virtues; Lapp women; use of tobacco; 
coast Laps ; religious character ; fanatical crusade ; supersti- 
tious charms, 

CHAPTER XI. 
First sight of reindeer; garden housetops, their construction; build- 
ings in Hammerfest and other towns ; fuel ; wintering of cattle 
on fish; feeding of horses; cows; dairy farms; food for stock; 
sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, and Lapland dogs; mails and tele- 
graphs; courtesy of people and officials; temperature and light 
in winter; winter amusements; love of home and country; 
fishing at midnight; the midnight sun again, 

CHAPTER XII. 
• Trade in Hammerfest; the Lapp quarter; American consul; leave 
Hammerfest; our northern position; island channels; Bosekop, 
the Lapland Eden; the hotel; an arctic bouquet; rapid growth 
of flowers; peat bogs; church architecture; the forests; valley 
of the Alten river; codfish trade; unconsciously aid a truant; 
an historical monument, 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Historical monument; Harold Haarfager, Norway's first and great 
king; the story of his conquest of kingdom and queen; the 
expelled jarls; their settlements and colonies; discovery of 
Iceland ; its settlement, republican government, conversion to 
Christianity, historians and poets ; discovery and settlement of 
Greenland; Scandinavian claim to the discovery of America; 
the several expeditions; the first white man buried and the first 
white child born in America; credit to which these claims of 
discovery are entitled, 



4 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Gardens and grass at Bosekop; copper mine at Kaafjord; leave 
Bosekop; christening and confirmation pilgrims; fourth of July 
on the steamer; miss the stars and stripes; meet friends at 
Oxfjord; the voyage south; changed aspect produced by sum- 
mer; Tromso; contested lodgings; Laplander encampments; 
herds of reindeer; arrange for a visit; the trip by water; rather 
comical landing, 203 

CHAPTER XV. 
The encampment; the reindeer and the Lapland herders; special 
investigation of the habits of the animal ; their keeping, and 
uses; their breeding and natural instincts; long conversation 
with the herders; compared with other branches of the deer, 
family; domestication; the value of the milk; Lapland cheese; 
the natural food of the reindeer; the universality of the moss 
where the reindeer are found, 221 

CHAPTER XVI. 
A commercial levee; Lapland thread; Norwegian log cabin; do- 
mestic industry; luncheon; a cutler's shop; the universal 
sheath-knife, its use and cost; Lapp encampment; a charm- 
ing sail to town; location of Tromso; dull fishing; social life 
in towns; general gravity of the people; leave Tromso; mo- 
notony of perpetual daylight, and desire to escape it; the 
steamer; second view of the grand coast scenery; the works 
of nature and of man; human insignificance, 241 

CHAPTER XVII. 
The Lofoden islands; their number, size and location; the Mael- 
strom ; island scenery ; the inhabitants ; virtue, temperance and 
industry; the women, able-bodied and good-looking; general 
cleanliness; the journey among the islands; dangerous naviga- 
tion; authority of captain and pilot; pass Bodo; leave the 
Arctic Circle; Norwegian fjords' and lakes; recollections of 
the journey; reach Trondhjem, 255 



CONTENTS. 



5 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
Attempted imposition; I resist and defeat it; American weakness 
in such matters ; the landlord ; continued rain, and no dark- 
ness yet; environs of Troridhjem ; comfortable condition of 
the people; mode of curing hay; Norwegian scythe; women 
in the fields; overland travel; legal regulations; the carriole 
system; the vehicle and harness; engage a carriage for my 
party; the contract and arrangements; leave Trondhjem; the 
railway to Storen; Norwegian strawberries; Storen, .... 279 

CHAPTER XIX. 
The overland trip; lose and then recover our carriage; light 
baggage; a countryman accompanies us; we start on a good 
road; pass Prcesthuus, Garlid, Bjerkager and Austbjerg; a 
lady tries the carriole; a grand precipice; Stuen and Anne 
or Ovne; first night at a station; peat; a case of poverty; 
sunny nights ; Rise, Drivstuen and Kongsvold ; a Norwegian 
kitchen; try my hand at cooking with astonishing results; 
the Dovre Fjeld; a bad road; the summit; Mount Snehaeton; 
Hjcerkin; the carriage upsets; in a tight place; the mustang 
horses of the country, 299 

CHAPTER XX. 
Resume the journey; bleak and barren district; delay at Fog- 
sten; flowers under snow; snowballing in July; another acci- 
dent, and hazardous travel; Dombaas; wild reindeer; no dark- 
ness yet; part with our traveling companion; the Norwegian 
elk ; Thoftemoen ; a royal station-keeper, his pride and wealth ; 
Laagen valley ; a perilous bridge and road ; Broendhaugen, 
Laurgaard, Moen, Bedevangen; Kringlen, an historical site; 
the story of the annihilation of a Scotch army under Sinclair, 
at Kringlen; the commemoration monument; the romance, . 321 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Storklevslad ; secure a good dinner; Oien; Norwegian timber; 
a race for horses; Ave win; Listad ; Skjaeggstad; the beggars 



6 



CONTENTS. 



in Norway ; last of the snow mountains ; Kerkestuen ; the 
road along the river; Holmen and Fossegaarden ; vexatious 
delay waiting for horses; need of patience; lower valley of the 
Laagen; Lake Mjosen; reached Lillehammer, 341 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Lillehammer; docks at the landings; a garden of roses; honest 
horses ; the falls ; Lake Mjosen ; effect of the Lisbon earth- 
quake; Helgio; Hamar; Vormen river; Eidsvold; an historical 
city ; cradle of Norwegian liberty ; transfer of Norway to Swe- 
den in 1S10; the secret treaty; convention at Eidsvold in 1814; 
a king elected ; the constitution of Norway ; king abdicates, and 
King of Sweden elected King of Norway; incorruptibility of 
the Storthing; national independence, 353 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Leave Eidsvold by rail for Christiana; the hotel porter; his im- 
portance, his numerous functions, his qualifications, dress and 
income; hear of the second Chicago fire; difficulty in getting 
information; Christiana Fjord and Christiana; ancient city of 
Osloe; environs of the capital; parks and palaces; parliament 
house ; university and museum ; other institutions ; American 
consul; Mr. Bennett, the generous friend of travelers, . . . 371 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Leave Christiana by rail; Kongsvinger; indifferent accommoda- 
tions; absence of carpets in Norway hotels; cross the Swedish 
line; Avika; a wheat-field; Laxa; a long and wearisome 
delay; gross mismanagement of railways; the German sys- 
tem ; Stockholm ; the Grand Hotel ; the northern Venice ; 
water transit; abandon the trip to Russia; the Gotha slack- 
water canal; Wener lake; Trolhcetta falls; southern Sweden; 
Gothenburg to Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne; up 
the Rhine; Heidelburg; Baden-Baden; Zurich and Lucerne; 
up the Riga; Rhone glacier; Geneva; Paris; London; Liver- 
pool; New York, 385 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



t 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



CHAPTER I. 



Interest in Scandinavia; causes therefor; what we know 
of Norway; the route to Norway; arrive in London; 
start from hull ; limited accommodations; crossing the 
North Sea; the passengers; the protecting islands; 
stop at aalesund. 

IT is gratifying to observe the interest re- 
cently awakened in the United States in all 
that pertains to the Scandinavian states, and 
especially to Norway. Many considerations com- 
bine to excite this interest. In the first place, 
we know but little of its present or past, al- 
though not hidden away in the interior, like 
most other European states, but swept on its 
western border by that great ocean stream which, 
beginning at Central America, and carrying with 
it the forest trees of the tropics to the arctic 
regions of Norway, and within a few days' sail of 
the most commercial nation of Europe, still it 
seems to be wrapt in seclusion, and its natu- 

(9) 



LO 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



ral features and characteristics escape that notice 
which other countries receive. We know that 
Norway has a history, but little of it is accessi- 
ble in our language. We know they were once a 
powerful people in war ; that they had liberal, yes, 
democratic institutions, and were more advanced 
than many of their southern neighbors in the 
science of government ; that they left their deep 
impress especially upon the British Islands, when 
the institutions of the latter were in a plastic state, 
and in the process of formation, and thus have had 
an influence on our own. We know that William 
the Conqueror was descended from Norwegian 
stock, and that the present dynasty of Great 
Britain traces its origin back to Norway. We 
know that they had their heroic age, when in valor, 
enterprise and sanguinary deeds they eclipsed all 
other peoples. We have been told that their 
brave navigators first discovered our own country, 
and actually colonized our shores centuries before 
Columbus was born. We have been told that 
they have a mountainous, rugged country, reach- 
ing far into the Arctic Circle, peopled with 
a hardy race of fishermen, extending much 
nearer the pole than civilization has elsewhere 
reached ; but of all this we have but shadows 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



11 



and glimpses, which interest but do not satisfy. 
In the dark shadows of the past we look for 
faint images of things that have gone before. 
Into these dim outlines we figure to ourselves 
great realities, and with credulous ears listen 
to mythical tales as substitutes for established 
facts, and if they give but an outline we fill up 
the picture from our own imaginings. 

Whether it be of times, of peoples or of 
countries, if we know but little, our curiosity is 
excited, our interest is awakened, and we wish 
to fill up the measure of our knowledge. The 
human mind is ever striving after something 
new ; and the higher the culture the stronger is 
this desire. With the known we are already 
satisfied, and stretch forward to the unknown. 
We feel less interest in the perusal of a book 
which we have already read, or the story of 
which has been already told us. We travel to 
see new things. If we visit countries which 
have filled the pages of history for thousands of 
years, and the characteristics of whose peoples 
have been often described to us, it is not so 
much to see what we have thus learned, but 
something new — something that others have 
overlooked, or have omitted to describe ; for it 



12 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



is a certain truth that no traveler, no matter 
how observing and painstaking he may be, ever 
sees all the features of a country or a people 
which he visits, any more than the artist sees 
all the features or appreciates all the beauties 
of a landscape which he beholds ; yet were he 
to undertake to write a description of all he 
saw, even in a short study, he would rind it 
almost an endless task. So it is with Scandi- 
navia. We know but little of it, and this little 
serves but to sharpen the appetite for more. 
Why would you prefer to hear of Norway rather 
than of England or France, or of our own 
country ? Simply because you wish to hear of 

something new to you, rather than listen to a 

<_> j ' 

tale so often told, and which has lost the charm 
of novelty. Although its western islands are 
washed by the same ocean that laves the shores 
of our own land — although a waif thrown from 
our southern keys may be dashed upon the 
rocks by the maelstrom, or swept beyond the 
North Cape, yet Ave know less of that land and 
its people than of many countries at our anti- 
podes. 

We know indeed that it is an old country 
and was once mistress of all the northern seas. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



13 



We know there was a time when the sea-kin^s 
of the Norsemen left their midnight sun and 
swept down upon the more benighted regions of 
Ireland, Scotland and England, overcame the 
natives, and placed rulers over their settlements ; 
crossed the channel, drove the descendants of 
the Gauls from all the coasts of Xormandy, and 
colonized it with their surplus population ; gave 
it a new name, commemorative of their origin, 
and their descendants still hold the lands their 
fierce ancestors wrested from weaker hands. 

We know that these later descendants of the 
Northmen, not content with their continental 
possessions, in the person of William the Con- 
queror, crossed the channel, conquered England, 
and established there a great dynasty, which, 
with slight interruption, has ruled that great 
nation ever since. 

Thus much we learn from the histories of the 
lands they invaded or conquered ; but back of this 
we know so little that a charm of mystery han^s 
over these sea-robbers, as they were called, and 
the land they came from. If their own histories 
tell much Ave would like to know, they are 
sealed books except to the most learned of 
other nations, for the Xorske lan^ua^e is con- 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



fined to a limited area. So that we are still 
confined, or at least most of us, to the scraps 
picked up here and there in the histories of the 
countries with which they came in contact. 

We have all heard of Harold and Olaf, and 
others of their warlike kings who built their rude 
dwellings upon the rugged cliffs and threaded 
their way, with their great fleets of little vessels 
full of devoted followers, among the rock-bound 
islands and into the deep fjords, whence they 
dashed, as if from a well-covered ambush, upon 
the restless North Sea, whose tempestuous gales 
they braved as if sporting with a plaything, and 
rushed down upon distant shores, where they 
loaded their barks with booty, or drove away the 
inhabitants and took possession of their deserted 
hearthstones, with the unconcern of real pur- 
chasers. The purchase-money was blood, which 
sealed the deed which was written with the point 
of a lance. Such were the fruits of valor, such 
was glory in those rude times, when the strong 
hand claimed as its own all it could grasp, and 
the right was recognized and the violence ap- 
plauded by the world at large; when the sense 
of justice was so perverted as to recognize no 
rights in the weak which the strong were under 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



15 



any obligation to respect. Alas, a thousand 
years of progressive civilization and christianiza- 
tion have not sufficed to so enlighten the human 
mind as to enable it fully to appreciate the 
wickedness of such perverted principles. If, as 
between individuals, the sense of mankind will 
no longer recognize the right of violence, poten- 
tates and states take to themselves the fruits of 
force, and complacently look around for applause 
for their mighty deeds. 

When, enticed by the charm begotten by a 
little knowledge only, I resolved to visit Norway 
and see for myself the country and the people, 
see what they did and how they lived, I was 
embarrassed to find out how to go, so I went 
to London. From the imperfect information 
which I had received I supposed a line of 
steamers sailed from England around the North 
Cape and into the White Sea, to Archangel, 
and that thence I could find comfortable con- 
veyance by water and by rail across Russia to 
St. Petersburg, and such was my contemplated 
route when I started. I spent two days of dili- 
gent inquiry in London, without success. I vis- 
ited the offices of Cook, Bradshaw and Murray, 
but they could add nothing to my stock of in- 



16 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



formation. Norway was out of the beaten track 
of travel, and so had not commanded attention — 
Murray's Guide was old, and everything might 
have been changed since. Fortunately I met a 
countryman at my banker's, who was bound for 
northern Norway, and who had been several 
months in pursuit of the very information which 
I desired. From him I learned that the direct 
route was to sail from Hull in one of Wilson's 
steamers, direct across the North Sea, for Trond- 
hjem ; * that one would sail the next Thursday 
evening, and he believed every alternate Thurs- 
day through the season, and that he had en- 
gaged his passage in her six weeks before, for 
the reason that he understood that passage in her 
was in great demand. I immediately telegraphed 
to Wilson, at Hull, for rooms, and was answered 
that everything was engaged long before. 

As that was the only chance to get to north- 
ern Norway, when the sun was at the highest, 
I again telegraphed to Hull that I must go 
on the Tasso — that I learned was the name of 
the steamer — and so would go to Hull on 
Wednesday. And we did go, trusting to good 

* In Norwegian names and words the j has the sound of v. In 
this word dh are silent, so it is pronounced Tronyem. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



IT 



fortune for an opening. On my arrival I went 
to the office and made myself as agreeable as 
possible to the passenger clerk, who finally 
admitted that frequently places were given up at 
the moment of sailing, and if any were aban- 
doned I should have them. But I had three 
ladies in my party, and there were but four 
berths in the ladies' cabin. He could manage 
one by turning out a lady's maid who only paid 
steerage fare, but even that would make trouble. 
The next morning I was at the office early, and 
was gratified to learn that a state-room was 
given up, and I should have it. He went with 
me to the steamer, introduced me to the captain, 
and requested that everything should be done 
to accommodate me. The captain promised 
much, and kept his promise. We went on board 
with but one place in the ladies' cabin, trusting 
to fortune for the other ; and that soon came ; 
when the lady found that her maid could not 
remain with her, she prevailed upon two gentle- 
men friends to give up their state-room to her, 
while they should take their chances on the 
settees in the dining saloon, although all these 
were already engaged. So we were all fixed. 
The first night out we did nicely, for the 



18 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



weather was pleasant and the sea not rough. 
The next morning a fresh breeze came down 
upon us from the north, and the treacherous 
North Sea was about to vindicate its reputation. 
All day long the wind increased, and the little 
cockle-shell we were in tumbled about in a lively 
way. However the sun shone brightly, and it 
was reasonably warm. I got our ship chairs in 
good positions, and the ladies passed the whole 
day on deck, and without suffering very much. 
In the evening the wind had increased to half a 
gale, and so much water came upon the deck 
that the ladies could stay there no longer. I 
staggered aft to our state-room, and saw at once 
that we could not sleep there. The motion was 
absolutely murderous. The yerk of the propel- 
ler, as we toppled over the waves, would throw 
me up clear off the floor every minute. I knew 
my wife could not live there half an hour, so I 
found the stewardess, and slipping a half sover- 
eign into her willing hand, told her she must 
make up a bed on the floor in the ladies' cabin 
for Mrs. C. It was a matter of life and death, 
and must be done. She demurred at first, as 
the space on the floor was not more than five 

by seven feet, and the other ladies could not 

i 



/ 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



19 



get into their berths. But it had to be done, 
and so it was done ; and when done I got the 
lady (she was very sick) upon the floor as soon 
as possible. It was indeed a terrible night 
The little steamer seemed to stand first on one 
end and then on the other, and then she would 
lay on either side alternately. Everything that 
was loose in the ship was thrashing about in a 
lively way. It was midnight before I got my 
party settled, when I made a very crooked way 
to the deck, and for the first and only time in 
my life acknowledged the supremacy of Neptune. 

I then, wrapped in a blanket, stretched myself 
on the floor of the dining saloon in front of the 
side seats, which were covered with passengers, 
who could find no better places to sleep. The 
rolling, rearing and plunging of the ship made 
their couches anything but stable resting-places, 
and before long a tremendous sea struck the 
bow, when it was already lifted high, and the 
shock was as if she had struck a rock, or 
at least a floating wreck, and strewed the floor 
with those who had been holding themselves on 
to the side lounges, and the dapper gentleman 
who fell upon my big boots, the feet of which 
occupied a vertical position, growled and groaned 



20 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



as if his ribs were broken, and then apologized 
for his sudden intrusion on my quiet. I do not 
think he was to blame. Screams were heard 
from every quarter ; state-room doors flew open, 
and their occupants rushed out in dishabille. The 
expression on the countenances of those who 
suppose they are in a sinking ship in a raging 
sea cannot be described. It is simply horrible. 
Then is the time when all the incidents of a 
lifetime are reviewed in a moment ; when the 
loved ones at home present themselves as if for 
the last time, and a last adieu is thought amid 
the anguish of despair. Such a minute is a life- 
time long. 

These fears were groundless, however, for the 
little bark kept on climbing the waves with per- 
sistent resolution. In truth, the old North Sea 
proved itself equal to all I had heard of it, with 
- — to use a favorite English expression — nasty 
seas, though not large ones. I have been in the 
ground swells and in the chopped-up seas of 
the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico and the 
British Channel, but they were amiable as com- 
pared with the waves of the North Sea, rolling 
down from the far distant Northwest. 

During the night the captain had laid his 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



21 



course for Bergen, that he might have the pro- 
tection of the island, from the rough open sea. 
This brought the seas more abeam and enabled 
all the lar^e ones to cret on board. 

When I went on deck I found a very portly 
Englishman, whom I had left a few hours be- 
fore sole occupant of the open deck, holding on 
for dear life, in a big chair, and taking the 
spray like a duck in a thunder-storm. Now he 
was lashed securely to the chair, and that well 
secured to the hatch — an office which some 
sailor had performed for him for a shilling, and 
which he assured me had alone saved him from 
being washed overboard twenty times during the 
night. I thought once would have done. He 
was surely in a sad plight, as wet as if he had 
been in the cold, ocean all ni^ht ; his teeth chat- 
tering so. that he could never get his h's in the 
right place, as he poured out the vials of his 
wrath upon the North Sea and all it contained, 
and everybody who was such a fool as to go 
upon it, even for salmon-fishing in Norway. 

As the morning advanced the weather moder- 
ated a little, and our course was again changed 
for Trondhjem, which brought our head nearly to 
the seas, when the motion was more fore and aft, 



22 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



but less of the rolling or rocking motion, which 
makes one walk so groggy. 

All that day and the next night this unpleas- 
ant weather continued, and the steward's score 
must have been light, for very few appeared at 
the table, and most of those who came staid 
but a few minutes. When, on the following 
morning, we could see the snow-capped mount- 
ains of Norway in the far east, all seemed in- 
spired with new life and hope, for the sight of 
land is joyful to one who has been tempest- 
tossed even for a few days, and the thought of 
getting under the friendly protection of the is- 
lands gladdened every heart. But our course was 
not for the islands ; it was almost due north and 
parallel to them. This day I was able to get 
the ladies on deck again, for they felt better in 
the open air than in the confined cabin, and the 
sight of the distant hills was refreshing. To- 
ward evening we were evidently approaching 
the shore, and about eight o'clock the pilot 
pointed out an isolated island, far ahead, inside 
of which we should go. This we passed at ten 
o'clock, while yet the sun was above the horizon. 

Our course was now changed more to the 
eastward, the open sea being on our left, while 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



;3o 



we skirted along numerous islands which lay on 
our right. Oh, how we longed to get inside, 
where we should have still water and a quiet 
sleep. At last the door was pointed out through 
which we should enter and find the long wished 
for calm. This we entered in the dusk of the 
evening, between eleven and twelve o'clock, and 
then we glided along in waters as still as if in a 
canal. 

We had not been in the habit of retiring be- 
fore dark, and so we sat upon the deck, wrapped 
in cloaks and blankets, waiting for darkness to 
come ; but it came not. At midnight we stopped 
at a flourishing town of one thousand inhabitants, 
named Aalesund, but still it was only dusk. 



CHAPTER II. 



Absence of docks in Norway; primitive mode of landing; 
day succeeds day without night; singular sensations; 
sleeping in day-time; british sportsmen; tax on pro- 
visions; salmon-fishing in norway ; lease of the rivers 
TO englishmen; a day at the fishing-grounds; manner 
of fishing; MR. burrows, a veteran fisher; habits of 
salmon; dine on a fifty-thousand-dollar salmon. 

THOUGH midnight, we could see the people 
passing along the streets and upon the 
dock, and as they got into the boats to come 
off to us. We were now in Norway, where 
steamers do not land at docks but anchor 
out almost as far as they can get away, and 
make people come to them and go from 
them in little boats, and so must the freight 
be transferred. Boats were used a thousand 
years ago, in Harold's time, and so they must 
be used now on every possible occasion. Be- 
sides, it keeps the people active and used to it, 
and enables them to earn some skillings which 
would be lost should the steamer eo to dock 

and let people step on shore or on board — so 

(25) 



36 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



must native industry be protected and encour- 
aged. 

Here we were in Norway at last. The land 
of myths and mysteries, of ghosts and hob- 
goblins, of giants, of ghouls, of fancy forms and 
of fairy tales, and a thousand mystic charms 
with which the imagination had clothed their 
islands and their fjords, their mountains and 
their streams, and their people too. We thought 
not of the night, but strained our eyes in the 
dim twilight to see how looked their lands, their 
fences and their houses, their boats, their dresses, 
their forms and their faces. For the latter we 
need not have been so anxious, for we had 
seen some of them at home. 

When we had exchanged passengers and the 
Tasso had lifted up her anchor, we steamed 
away through the tortuous channels among the 
islands, and we saw it was growing lighter 
before it was yet dark, and we knew we must 
now stretch ourselves upon the floor or we 
should lose the little darkness there was to aid 
us in our sleep, and this was the last of any 
show of night for the month to come. Now it 
was that we began to understand how far north 
we were, and how near we were to that day 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



which is a summer long. But three days be- 
fore, we had left England in a ni^ht which 
lasted loner enough to give one a crood refresh- 
ing sleep, and yet in so short a flight Ave had 
outrun the night, only the thin skirts of which 
still hung around us, holding a last struggle 
with perpetual day, which lay but a span before 
us. Already the strange sensation of so crreat 
a change began to creep over us, and it seemed 
as if Ave Avere at the confines of another Avorld, 
Avhere the laAvs of nature, as Ave had ahvays 
knoAvn them, Avere suspended. Already the angel 
of sleep seemed to have taken his final flight to 
more sombre and more congenial regions, and 
left us to our fate, to struggle as Ave mio-ht for 
a short repose with that light so hostile to his 
SAvay. 

We slept but little that morning, for morning 
had come so soon as eA^enin^ had gone bv. 
During the small hours the whistle bleAv for 
Christiansund, and I hastened out to get another 
peep at Norwegian scenery and the Xonvegian 
people. Here some Englishmen with their fami- 
lies left the steamer, for a summer campaign 
among the salmon. They evidently meant to 
have a good time, for they filled a lighter Avith 



2S 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



their supplies, prominent among which were 
many baskets of champagne, with a great abun- 
dance of provisions of nearly all kinds which 
good living could suggest. From this it was in- 
ferred that they were not well up to Norwegian 
Custom duties, for of all things provisions are 
taxed more heavily than any imports admitted 
to the country, and could be bought outright for 
the duties which they would have to pay. Well, 
off they went, with the good wishes of their 
friends left behind, with a journey of thirty or 
forty miles before them to reach the river they 
had rented. 

The rivers of Norway afford the finest salmon 
fishing in the world, and all are now rented to 
Englishmen. The rents are paid to the riparian 
owners, and the leases are executed by them. 
Some lease a whole river, others take half a 
mile, a mile or ten miles. Many have to go 
forty or fifty miles up the river to reach their 
fishing ground, where they have built comfort- 
able lodges. We should consider the rents high 
for six weeks' sport at the best, ranging from a 
few hundred dollars to several thousands. Some 
seasons the fishing is very fine, and the strings 
taken are very large ; and this indeed is generally 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



29 



the case, but sometimes it is very poor, and the 
sportsman gets the exercise without the fish. 
This was one of the poorest seasons ever known, 
and when I left Norway, the season being more 
than half over, I only heard of four having been 
taken in the regular way — that is, with the fly, 
and if these were charged with all the money 
expended in fly-fishing for salmon in Norway, 
they cost more than ten thousand pounds each. 
We had the pleasure of helping to eat one of 
these costly fish. 

On our return from above the Arctic Circle 
some weeks later, we stopped a few days at Storen 
by invitation of Mr. Burrows, to witness the sport. 
He was the father of fly-fishing in Norway, having 
wandered thither a quarter of a century ago in 
the pursuit of his favorite sport, and there he 
found it to his very fill. He fished the kingdom 
over, and finally leased the river at Storen as the 
most eligible of all, and every year finds him on 
his favorite ground, whipping the stream every 
day, morning and evening, rain or shine, whether 
the fish rise or not. I thought I had seen rlv- 
fishing before, and had even made many a cast 
myself for trout and bass, though never for a 
salmon ; but he handled the rod with more dex- 



30 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



terity than I have ever seen in other hands. 
Standing in the tiny boat, worked up and down 
the rapid waters by a skillful man at the oars, 
he would cast thirty or forty yards of line at a 
clean swing with only a single fly, and drop it at 
the full length, or at any reasonable intermediate 
point, precisely where he desired. I watched him 
by the hour, charmed with the skill displayed. 
He generally fished as wide as possible, the 
same graceful loop and curve always forming far 
behind him, and then stretching out its full 
length far away, the fly would drop upon the 
water as gently as a light flake of snow in a 
calm day. But there was no response ; with all 
his skill and all his perseverance, not a single 
brake was seen. I would have given much to 
have seen a rise of a thirty-pounder, and the 
veteran fisher fight him up and down the river, 
and I think he would have doubled my offer ; 
but this could not be, and so I was obliged to 
be content to witness only half his skill. 

"But, Mr. Burrows," said I, "are there no fish 
in the river ? When in other seasons you say 
you would have taken a dozen while I have 
been lying on this soft bank, looking at you?" 

" Indeed," he replied, as he reeled in his line 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



31 



with a heavy sigh, " the river is full of fish as it 
ever is, but they have the sulks and won't rise. 
At the mouth they catch them with their infernal 
nets by the cart-load, and quite as many as they 
ever do. I can't explain it. I can't understand 
it. I have studied these fish for twenty years 
and more, and think I know all their ways, but 
this is one for which I can conceive of no reason. 
When I came the water was high, and" I thought 
that might be the reason ; but here I have been 
after them faithfully every day till now it is low, 
and yet not a single rise. This unaccountable 
habit of the fish is not confined to this river, 
but from the reports I get, it is universal through- 
out Norway, even clear around North Cape to 
the Russian line, and probably beyond. The 
same thing has occurred a few times before, but 
it is very exceptional. That the fish are abun- 
dant, and in fine condition, is shown by those taken 
at the mouths of the* rivers, where the nets are 
allowed to be stretched across them three days in 
the week. When these nets were first introduced 
they were in constant use, and practically barred 
the rivers to the access of the salmon, and would 
soon have resulted in their total extinction ; but 
government soon interfered, and now the fish 



32 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 

stand at least half a chance, and that is enough 
to make them plenty in these congenial waters." 

"But," said I, "would they not bite at live 
bait ? " 

" Oh, yes," replied the disciple of Izaak, " no 
doubt I could fill the boat in a short time by 
tempting them with live bait, but in doing so 
I should take no satisfaction ; indeed, I should 
feel myself disgraced, and would never show my- 
self at the club again." 

"Of course," said I, "you would not adopt 
that as a mode of fishing, but in the cause of 
science, surely it would be permissible. For my- 
self, I am something of a naturalist, and am 
interested to learn all the habits of the animals 
which come within the range of my observation, 
and it would be interesting to know how far 
these fish have departed from their usual habits 
in this exceptional season." 

" Nay, nay," said mine host, as he gravely 
turned his face toward the lodge, having handed 
his rod to his attendant and beckoned the ladies 
and gentlemen who were seated within the shade 
of a large white birch tree, beneath which was a 
soft carpet of green grass, " it would be very un- 
scientific to take salmon with anything but a 



\ 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



33 



decent fly. Deceive them with that as much as 
you can, but do not conceal a hook beneath that 
which they must take or starve, and then haul 
them ashore as you would a quarter of beef. 
Give them a chance for their lives. With the fly 
it is a trial of wit, and they are pretty sharp too 
to detect the imposture. Usually they will first 
strike the fly with the tail to see if it be not a 
counterfeit, and if it is bunglingly made or 
handled, they will laugh at you and dart away. 
Ah, it is glorious fun to deceive such sharp fel- 
lows, and then to meet and disappoint all their 
efforts to get away when once you have hooked 
one ! I have sometimes had to fiVht a bi^ one 
an hour, and run all the rapids within a mile, 
before he would give up, and sometimes in spite 
of all, he will find a snag or rock to whip the 
line around, and break loose. An old salmon is 
as cunning as a fox, but we must look beyond 
this element in his character to find a cause for 
their not rising to the fly in a season like this. 
In the fore-part of the season we attributed it to 
the high water, arising from the la^te melting of 
the snow on the mountains, and indeed, it has 
always been late seasons when this peculiarity 
has been observed ; but if high water were the 

3 



34 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



sole cause, we should take them now when the 
water is low, but, as you see, they are as obstinate 
as ever. 

" Come, let us to the lodge, and see if they 
differ in taste as well as habit, from ordinary 
seasons. Adams killed one this morning, the first 
of the season in these waters, and I had hoped 
it was the beginning of a run of luck, but now 
I see it was exceptional." 

We soon found ourselves discussing the fish 
at the hospitable board of our kind host, and 
listening to anecdotes of Norwegian sports, and 
so passed the time till eight o'clock, when we 
returned to our rooms in the town a mile away. 
The gentlemen accompanied us on our return, 
when Mr. Burrows, who talks Norsk like a native, 
explained some of our wants to the landlord, and 
then left us for the evening. 




RED DEER OR STAG OF EUROPE. 



CHAPTER III 



Continue the voyage; among the islands; scenery and 
sights; red deer; its island home; fishers' huts; Trond- 
hjem; ancient capital of Norway; meet Hattram, our in- 
terpreter ; landing and reception ; Norwegian salutations ; 
the streets; flowers; the hotel; Norway beds; down cov- 
erlets; STROLL THROUGH TRONDHJEM ; POLITENESS OF THE 

people; an agreeable acquaintance. 

SALMON fishing in Norway has led me to 
anticipate events by a month or more. We 
now found ourselves gliding gently along on- the 
still waters of the bays and channels among the 
protecting islands which border the western coast 
of Norway for a thousand miles, effectually pro- 
tecting it from the fierce ocean beyond, which 
expends its fury upon the rock-bound beaches, 
leaving all as quiet within as if the winds could 
not disturb the waters. We enjoyed this morn- 
ing exceedingly as we threaded our way among 
the islands which bounded the vision on every 
side. All was new. 

This morning we passed the two great islands 
of Hatteroen and Smoen, which were pointed out 
to us by the officers of the ship as the last homes 

(35) 



36 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



in Norway of the red deer or stag (cervus ela- 
ftktis?) This of course particularly interested me, 
and I would gladly have stopped upon the islands 
a few days to have learned all I could of their 
habits in their wild state ; but time was precious, 
if I would see the midnight sun at his highest 
altitude. So I must content myself with what I 
could subsequently learn from reliable sources. 

This interesting deer has not, in modern times 
at least, been an inhabitant of arctic Norway, 
nor has its range extended above the sixty-third 
degree of north latitude, even on the west coast, 
where the climate is milder. 

The corresponding species in America — I will 
not stop now to vindicate their specific identity, 
which was recognized by the old authorities — 
the wapiti deer or American elk {cervus cana- 
densis) affects about the same temperature on 
this continent for its extreme northern range, 
which it finds in the 56th or 57th parallel of 
north latitude, and from the 103d to the 111th 
degree of west longitude, and in lower latitudes 
to the east and west of this district. 

Formerly, indeed, probably when the climate 
was milder in all the higher latitudes of Europe 
than at present, perhaps when the arctic elephant 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



37 



existed in incredible numbers on the borders of 
the Arctic Ocean, the red deer was an inhabitant 
of Finmark, as is evidenced by the fossil remains 
which have been found on some of the islands 
off that coast. 

It seems to have preferred the islands rather 
than the more rigorous climate of the interior 
for its home, and now in Norway we find it 
confined to these two great islands, which are 
separated by a strait but a few miles wide, in 
which are a multitude of smaller islands, and 
it may not be improbable that they pass from 
one island to the other if they are as good 
swimmers as the other members of the deer 
family. 

On these islands I was told by good authority 
that the red deer are strictly preserved, and here 
is presented an admirable opportunity of repeat- 
ing the experiment of interbreeding them with 
the wapiti, which has been successfully tried in 
Bohemia. 

The fishermen's huts at the little intervals 
along the shores, surrounded by gardens and 
green patches, looked cheery and comfortable ; 
their fishing boats gliding alona- the waters or 
standing quietly in position, the occupants indus- 



38 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



triously engaged in their business, told us that 
contented people lived here, as well as in lands 
which we call more favored. 

We turned a promontory, and the ancient 
capital of Norway lay before us. Centuries ago 
it was the great city of the Northmen, whose 
kings were a terror to other lands. Here they 
brought their spoil, and reveled with the fruits 
of rapine. They were rude no doubt, and so 
were all their neighbors. Bold they were beyond 
all question, and surrounded by bold and devoted 
followers, who dared all dangers whether by land 
or water. 

About twelve o'clock we dropped anchor in 
the bay, a third of a mile from the dock, and 
were immediately surrounded by a squadron of 
small boats, all seeking passengers to land. 
Hattram, a Norwegian who had lived eleven 
years near me in America, and who was expect- 
ing my arrival on the Tasso, jumped on board, 
and told me he had engaged a boat for my 
party, and in a few minutes we found ourselves 
and our trunks, bundles and chairs propelled 
rapidly to shore. Our baggage had been in- 
spected before we came to anchor, so there was 
no trouble of that kind on landing. I may say 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



39 



here that I declared six pounds of tobacco ; but 
the officials thought that not an unreasonable 
amount f5r a gentleman to burn while seeing all 
the sights of Norway, and so passed it without 
the asking, but were very particular to inquire 
for provisions. 

We stepped from the boat to the floating 
dock, and walked up to the street between two 
lines of young Norwegians, who seemed quite as 
curious to look upon live Americans as we were 
to see them upon their own soil. The first 
thing that struck us — and it was a decided 
strike — each one took off his hat, brought it 
down to opposite his breast, and made a graceful 
bow with a pleasant smile of welcome. Of course 
I acknowledged the courtesy in kind, and so in 
fact I passed through the crowd uncovered. 
The baggage was brought up and put into a 
little rickety cart, to which was hitched a little 
unkempt pony, not much bigger than one of the 
largest trunks, so that I had doubts whether he 
could manage the load up the pretty steep grade 
which lay before us. But he did, swinging first 
to the right and then to the left, the driver 
encouraging him vehemently all the way. 

This was the first horse-talk I heard in the 



40 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



Norske language. The words of encouragement, 
if words they were, sounded more like vehement 
grunts than articulate sounds, and the*w/u?a was 
only a violent flutter of the lips without the 
least attempt at articulation, and so my first 
lesson in Norwegian was to learn how to address 
a horse. 

There was no carriage, and as it was only a 
third of a mile to the hotel, and we had been 
nearly four days on shipboard without any exer- 
cise — there was no room for a promenade — 
the invalids thought they would try it on foot. 
As there had been plenty of time to recover from 
the terrible sea-sickness, they began to dispute 
the propriety of calling them invalids. We 
walked slowly up the hill from the wharf, and 
found ourselves in one of the principal streets, 
broad and straight, extending more than half a 
mile to the river. This street we found paved 
in the usual way with boulders, with a flag side- 
walk on either side. Next to them were gutters, 
and outside the gutters, on one side, was another 
flagged walk about two and a half feet wide. A 
row of trees stood on each side of the street. 
Many brick or stone dwellings were on the right 
hand side of the street, along which we made 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



41 



our way with moderate steps, curiously looking 
for new things. We saw little to criticise, but 
much to be pleased with. Perhaps the most 
pleasing of all the observations we made were 
the beautiful and brilliant flowers which filled 
every window and every porch. This we subse- 
quently found in every part of Norway, and it 
lends a charm to the whole country. No fisher- 
man's cot is without them, and they are found 
abundant in every mansion. In the latter they 
find places on elegant articles of furniture made 
for them. In the former they find convenient 
place on rude shelves, or directly on the broad 
window sills adapted for their reception. In no 
country have I seen more beautiful house plants 
or more brilliant indoor flowers. Nothing testi- 
fies to refinement and civilization more than a 
passion for the cultivation of flowers. To meet 
them thus on every hand upon our first landing, 
prepared us to be pleased with whatever else we 
saw, and so we walked alona- in great content- 
ment. 

At the Hotel d'Aneleterre, we found comfort- 
able rooms with comfortable beds. To the traveler 
there would seem to be a law in Scandinavia, and 
in Germany too, though I presume it is not a 



4:2 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



written law, that two persons shall never sleep 
together in the same bed ; and so they make all 
their beds sufficiently narrow to insure its strict 
observance, and I have frequently found them so 
narrow that it required careful balancing to keep 
on them, though this is frequently insured by 
high side-boards, and then it is you feel more as 
if you were crawling into a coffin than going to 
bed. The truth is, extravagance in Norway does 
not run to beds or bedsteads. Now, one would 
suppose that in so cold a country, double beds 
would have been found comfortable, and become 
popular, especially during their long, dark winters ; 
but I imagine, in the hotels at least, they never 
tried it, and probably would consider it very unbe- 
coming. I understand that in private houses they 
frequently have extension bedsteads, which may 
be drawn out and double beds made upon them, 
but we met none of these at the hotels. On 
nearly all beds in Norway w T e found a very thick 
spread, made of down, almost enough for a bed 
of itself, and indeed we used it. as such. Now 
in summer weather, those Children of Israel who 
were proof against the furnace could not have 
slept in comfort under this downy cover, but in 
the winter no doubt it is found very comfortable, 



PERPETUAL DA Y. 



43 



and in summer it is probably considered orna- 
mental. Besides being narrow, the beds are also 
short. I saw none over six feet long, and some 
were much less. I slept on one not over eigh- 
teen inches wide and five feet three inches long, 
with huge side-boards. Imagine two hundred and 
forty pounds, six feet long, twisted into such a 
place, sound asleep, and you will think of the 
last letter of the alphabet. 

Of course we ordered fish for dinner with as 
much assurance as we would order oysters at 
Baltimore, and at six o'clock we sat down to the 
finest dish of fresh cod I ever tasted. If we saw 
others as good afterwards, thev did not taste so 
well. Certain it is we were not so fish-hungry 
afterwards. Meats were on the table, but we 
passed them by and dined almost entirely on 
fish. 

After dinner I took a stroll through the town. 
It was a time when laborers, merchants, and 
bankers were either walking for recreation or 
passing to their homes, so that many were on 
the streets, which before seemed quite deserted. 
Whoever I met, whatever his social rank, the 
hat was removed and brought down to a level 
with the breast, and I was saluted with a bow, 



44 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



which I returned as best I could, but the hod 
carrier could do this with so much more grace 
and ease than I could command, that I was 
really ashamed of my awkwardness, although I 
never before felt the deficiency. Constant prac- 
tice from childhood, with careful training by the 
mother, must secure to all a high degree of 
proficiency in this act of courtesy so universal 
here anions all classes. 

o 

I have traveled much and have carefully ob- 
served many peoples, and beyond all comparison 
the Norwegians are the politest people I have 
met. There is a heart, a soul about their polite- 
ness, without rigid formality or affected frigidity, 
which I have nowhere else seen. If politeness 
in French society is more elaborate, it is more 
formal, and on its face tells you it is false and 
mere affectation, while in Norway they make you 
feel that everything they have is quite at your 
service, and that they are ready to go to any 
trouble to oblige you, without saving the least 
word to that effect. If they promise nothing and 
profess nothing, they perform everything. 

I had walked but a little way when a young 
gentleman addressed me in English, and inquired 
if I were an American, and volunteered to give 



PERPETUAL DAY. 45 

me any information about the place which I 
might desire. He was a clerk in the bank of the 
British vice consul, and was now taking his 
evening walk for exercise. He spoke English 
very well, was evidently well educated and intelli- 
gent. We walked together for perhaps an hour, 
while he furnished me a great fund of informa- 
tion. During all this walk the same salutations 
were exchanged with all we met. I asked him 
to show me where I could get some matches, 
and he took me to a tobacco shop. The man 
behind the counter was uncovered, while his hair 
was carefully dressed. The moment we entered 
the door my conductor removed his hat and 
remained uncovered till we left the shop. Of 
course I did the same — and this I found to be 
the universal custom throughout Norway. It is 
considered very rude for anyone — except he be 
an Englishman — to wear his hat in any store or 
shop, precisely as in the parlor of a mansion. 
Americans observe these things and conform to 
them much more readily than the English. I 
met several Americans in the city, all of whom 
conformed to these gracious usages, while I con- 
stantly met Englishmen in the stores and shops 
with their hats on. I do not know if they con- 



4(> 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



ceive it to be beneath their dignity to recognize 
the salutation of the laborer or the coachman on 
the street, or to remove the hat in the presence 
of a counter jumper. For myself, I only regret 
that these acts of courtesy, bespeaking a univer- 
sal good will among men, are not as prevalent 
in my own country as they are in Norway. I 
really believe we should then occupy a higher 
plane in civilization than we now do. 



CHAPTER I V. 



Norwegian' history; Olaf Tryggvesson; his romantic story; 
is sold into slavery; kills his captor; turns sea-king; 

WONDERFUL PROWESS; HURRIES THE NATIONS; MARRIES AN 

Irish princess; becomes a Christian; ascends the throne'; 
Christianity in Norway; founding of Trondhjem. 

A VEIL of mystery hangs over the early 
times of Norway, and this may be said 
of much of the early history of all Scandinavia 
when it was divided into petty principalities, or 
rather, I should say, little democracies, presided 
over by jarls or vikings, which generally signified 
sea robbers or pirates. 

And this is even true for some time later, and 
after these petty sovereigns or great freebooters 
had been subdued and driven to foreign lands, 
or submitted to the sway of the great Harold, 
whose brows first bore the unified crown of 
Norway, and who swayed his powerful scepter 
over all her mountains and all her valleys, all 
her seas and all her fjords. 

The Sagas of the few scholars and the poets, 
who wrote or sung of those olden times under 

(47) 



48 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



the patronage of the jarls or kings, are generally 
meagre and often contradictor}-, full of laudation, 
which makes one suspect that the fancy of the 
poet has helped out the facts, or stained their 
pages with animosities evidently begotten of 
prejudice or hatred. Hence it is that the stu- 
dent of Norwegian history must often be at a 
loss to determine how much of what he is told 
may be relied upon as fact, and how much is 
due to fancy. 

Now that we have arrived at this ancient 
city in Norway, we may enjoy our visit the 
more by understanding something of its early 
history ; for without some knowledge of the 
events connected with the objects which attract 
our attention in our travels, we enjoy but half 
the pleasure which they might afford us. 

Could we know the untold histories of the 
Egyptian pyramids, the ruins in Yucatan, or even 
the leaning tower of Pisa, how much it would 
enhance our interest and our pleasure when we 
visit them. 

We have already seen enough of Trondhjem 
as it now is, and of its people and their habits 
and present customs, to awaken a desire to 
recall something of the past; so a brief scrap of 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



V.) 



history, connected with its beginning, will not be 
out of place. 

The city of Trondhjem was founded by Olaf 
Tryggveson, near the close of the tenth century, 
on the site of an old city called Nidaros. 

As the founder of this city was one of the 
most extraordinary men in some respects of 
which we have any account, and as his early 
misfortunes and subsequent career have all the 
vicissitudes of an exciting romance, they are 
entitled to be remembered during a visit to the 
city which he founded. 

The first Olaf was the grandson of Haraldson, 
who was the third son of Harold Haarfa^er. His 
mother was Ostrid, a sister of Se^und of Russia. 

The sons of Gunhilds, widow of Erik Blodoks, 
conspired against him, when he was three years 
of age, and drove him and his mother into exile. 
She sought an asylum with her brother Segund 
in Russia, accompanied by her son and his tutor 
or foster-father. On their way they were attacked 
by a viking, who killed the foster-father and 
took Olaf and his mother prisoners, separated 
them, and sold them into slavery. 

' The viking received for the great-grandson 
of the great Harold a large male goat. His new 

4 



50 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



master soon traded him off for a cloak, to one 
Reas. With him he lived six years, who seems 
to have treated him well, without making him 
feel the pressure of bondage, and without break- 
ing the proud spirit inherited from his ancestors. 

Reas lived at Esttond, where he was a man 
of wealth and distinction. 

One day when Olaf was at play outside the 
house with some other boys, Segund, who was 
out collecting taxes, rode up with some assist- 
ants, when Olaf went up and bowed to Segund, 
who seemed to be the leader. Segund saw that 
he was a foreigner, and asked his name and who 
was his father. " My name is Olaf, and in Nor- 
way I have my relations, and there was I born," 
said the sprightly lad. " My father was Tryggve, 
Olaf s son, and Ostrid my mother, was a daughter 
of Erik of Ofrestad." 

Then Segund saw that the boy was his sis- 
ter's son, when he bought him and took him 
home with him to the Russian court. Olaf was 
at this time nine years old. Here he lived un- 
der the protection and instruction of his uncle, 
making great proficiency in all athletic accom- 
plishments, in which he showed a dexterity and 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



51 



courage far beyond all other boys of his age, 
which gave promise of his wonderful future. 

One day when he was in the market-place he 
"saw and at once recognized the viking who had 
taken them prisoners, and killed his foster-father, 
and sold his mother and himself into slavery. 
Burning with indignation at the sight of the 
outlaw, the boy rushed upon him " and buried 
his little - ax in the vikings brain." 

He then ran home as fast as he could, and 
told his uncle Segund what he had done. While 
his relative could not help admiring and even 
approving what the brave lad had done to avenge 
the wrongs received by his family, he knew that 
the viking's friends would give hj m trouble ; for 
those bold and reckless robbers had their friends, 
and were not without influence even at the royal 
courts. 

He therefore quickly took the boy to the 
queen, and told her his story, and how he had 
revenged himself upon the viking, and besought 
her to protect the lad. She admired his person, 
his spirit and his courage, and at once took a 
great liking to him. 

She extended to him her powerful protection, 



52 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



and finally compromised the matter with a fine 
which she herself paid. 

As he grew up, however, he became restless 
and discontented with the quiet life about the 
court, and longed for more stirring scenes, where 
valor and prowess could find more scope for 
action; and so when he was eighteen years of 
age, he took leave of his protectors and friends, 
gathered about him other daring spirits congenial 
to his own, turned viking himself, and made the 
Baltic country resound with his exploits. 

Of all the men of that heroic time he was 
most expert in the use of arms and in all ath- 
letic sports. The old writers can never exhaust 
the theme, but dwell, with ever-increasing delight 
and admiration, upon his wonderful deeds. He 
was a host of himself in battle. Single-handed 
he could repulse a multitude. If he could not 
draw the bow of Ejnor Thomborskoe, immortal- 
ized by Longfellow, he could throw a javelin 
with each hand at the same moment, and pierce 
different objects with them ; he could keep dag- 
gers flying in the air, some say three and others 
five, at the same time, catching them by their 
hilts as they descended, and returning them 
aloft ; and as a pastime he could walk back and 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



53 



forth outside the boat on the oars when the 
men were rowing ; and indeed it would be diffi- 
cult to say what he could not do in the way of 
athletic or warlike feats. 

After various exploits as a viking, we find 
him at the court of King Burrislavs, in North 
Germany, where he was captivated by the charms' 
of the king's daughter Gejra, who returned his 
love, and his personal accomplishments made all 
forget that he was an exile and a sea-robber, 
and he was accepted as a husband to the prin- 
cess. 

She, however, did not long live to restrain 
the roving robber, and when she died, to smother 
his anguish, he again took to the sea, and be- 
came once more every inch a viking. 

, He seems to have been quite impartial in his 
depredations, except that he favored his native 
Norway. Denmark and England, Scotland and 
Ireland, all were harassed by his fleets and his 
forays. In fine, he was the Kidd of his time, 
terrible to his enemies, who feared him like 
death itself, and loved by his friends, who were 
ever ready to sacrifice life at his mere suggestion. 

In the course of his forays in Ireland, he 
chanced to meet the beautiful Gyda, who was a 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



princess and a great heiress, and to her charms 
he again bowed his head and submitted to the 
yoke of Hymen. Whether the identity of her 
name with that of his ambitious and high-spirited 
great-grandmother, whose inspiration had stimu- 
lated Harold Haarfager to his great conquest, we 
cannot surely say, but no doubt with her person 
and her fortune she had sufficient charms without 
the aid of that association. 

Ireland at that time and for more than a 
thousand years before had been a great seat of 
learning and civilization far in advance of many 
of the other northern nations, and but for intes- 
tine wars, would have been the most powerful. 
But unfortunately the Milesian blood expended 
its valor in domestic warfare, when had their 
energies been united and directed against foreign 
foes their less learned neighbors must have sub- 
mitted to their sway. 

Christianity was now. well rooted in Ireland 
and in England, and Gyda was one of its devoted 
followers. She was learned in the literature of 
her country, while her new husband could only 
claim supreme personal accomplishments. She 
proved an able instructor, and converted him from 
paganism to her own religion much more than 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



55 



Elphigus, Bishop of Winchester, who baptized 
him, and he soon proved as zealous a Christian 
as he had ever been enthusiastic in his warlike 
enterprises. 

By this marriage he received large estates in 
both Ireland and England, and found himself so 
much strengthened that he prosecuted the war 
for the Norwegian inheritance, and finally fought 
his way back to the throne of that kingdom, which 
he ascended in 995, conferring royalty upon the 
Irish princess who had filled his coffers with her 
wealth and converted him to Christianity, with- 
out imbuing him with the lamb-like spirit of the 
Lowly One. 

But he was not the first king of Norway who 
had embraced Christianity. Haagan the Good, 
the sixth son of Harold Haarfager, had been 
brought up in England, where he had been con- 
verted from paganism, but he was of a more 
gentle disposition ; and instead of propagating 
the new religion, he was obliged to deny his 
faith and prove his pagan orthodoxy by drinking 
a bowl of horse-soup, which was supposed to be 
the special aversion of Christians. 

Olaf, however, was made of different stuff. He 
not only avowed his conversion, but he turned 



56 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



the lance which he had used to win his crown to 
the propagation of his faith, and offered those 
who had compelled his great uncle to feast on 
horse-flesh to bow at the altar of the cross or 
accept the crown of martyrdom. Faggots rein- 
forced his missionary arguments, and the sword 
severed the ligaments which bound his subjects 
to the heathen gods. But his reign lasted only 
five years, which was too short a time to estab- 
lish the faith of men whose conversion had been 
enforced ; and when the pressure of his mighty 
hand was withdrawn, they relapsed to the old 
religion and did penance to their heathen gods. 

Had Olaf adhered to the monogamic teach- 
ings of Christianity, and been content with a 
single wife, he might have reigned long enough 
to have allowed the new faith to have taken 
root, but he must marry another wife and go 
and claim her dower at the point of the lance. 

This afforded an opportunity for one of his 
most powerful jarls to betray him, to organize 
his enemies, and lead them in a great naval bat- 
tle, in which the king fairly outdid himself in 
valor, and fought the deck of his flag-ship — 
the Long Serpent — till the last man about him 
was slain, and he himself was wounded, when he 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



57 



disappeared over the side of his vessel and was 
never more seen. Thus perished in the prime 
of life the greatest warrior Norway ever knew. 

Two years after he ascended the throne, in 
997, Olaf laid the foundations of this city of 
Trondhjem, which thenceforth remained the capital 
of the kingdom till it was united to Denmark. 
He tore down the temple of the heathen gods, 
Thor and Odin, which was situated just beyond 
the walls of the city, and broke in pieces their 
venerated idols. 

If this first real attempt to establish Chris- 
tianity in Norway was a failure, it served to 
introduce the subject to the people, when it 
became a theme for thought and discussion, and 
no doubt somewhat paved the way for its subse- 
quent acceptance. 



CHAPTER V. 



The great cathedral; Olaf the Holy; miraculous spring; 
kings crowned at trondhjem ; present dynasty; union 
between Norway and Sweden; population; steamship 
lines; variety of language spoken; environs of the city. 

IF a contemplation of the city of Trondhjem 
has betrayed us into an episode, a visit to 
the great cathedral, which is by far the most 
interesting object in the city, and is intimately 
connected with the introduction of Christianity 
into Norway, invites, if not requires, another 
digression relating to the events connected with 
its origin, for without these we merely look upon 
a pile of dilapidated stone and mortar, some parts 
going to decay while others are being renewed, 
and its statuary is crumbling away under the 
breath of time, and many of its sacred ornaments 
betray the footsteps of the march of ages. 

Olaf the Second was the great-grandson of 
the fourth son of Harold Haarfager, and ascended 
the throne of Norway in 1015, after an inter- 
regnum of fifteen years since the death of Olaf 
the First, and eighteen years after the foundation 

(59) 



60 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



of the city. At the time of his accession he was 
a convert to the new religion, which had already 
made considerable progress, especially in southern 
Norway; but in order to smooth his way to the 
throne, he, at an assemblage of jarls and chief 
personages at a feast given by his mother, gave 
solemn pledges to respect their rights, which 
they might understand to include their religion. 
They accepted his pledges without requiring him 
to undergo the ordeal of the horse-broth im- 
posed upon the good Haagan, nor even do I 
find that he was required by any member of the 
Thing* to renounce Christianity and profess ad- 
herence to the ancient faith. 

We must admit those early converts to Chris- 
tianity belonged to the church militant, in its 
strongest sense, and were not given to winning 
souls by gentle suasion. Olaf the Holy soon 
forgot his promises, or gave them a forced con- 
struction which would allow him to devote him- 
self to the good of the souls of his subjects, who 
were in the bonds of pagan wickedness, especially 
near Trondhjem, where nearly all were yet pagans ; 
so he occasionally ordered them to adopt the 

* Thing — an assemblage, convention or congress, convened to 
consider public affairs. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



61 



new religion or die for the old. He sometimes 
broke their idols to pieces before their faces. 
He would tolerate no middle ground and admit 
of no delay, unless at the moment he was too 
weak to enforce his will. He admired his prede- 
cessor and namesake, Olaf the First, as a zealous 
missionary, and emulated his ardor in the good 
cause. He was a bold and sanguine man, and 
never allowed a doubt to abate his zeal. But he 
found he had to deal with a people as zealous 
as himself. His tyranny disgusted the leading 
men of the kingdom more than his religion, so 
they listened to Canute, the Dane, who was then 
king of England ; they received his bribes, and 
invited him to join them and expel Olaf, which 
he was too ready to do. Finally, deserted by 
the great body of his subjects, and even by a 
part of the little fleet which followed him along 
the coast and among the islands, with a few faith- 
ful followers he fled across the mountains — the 
Doverfjeld — into Sweden. Here he was kindly 
received by his brother-in-law and old ally, the 
king, but Canute had now become so strong that 
Olaf's presence was thought to endanger his 
friend, so he departed for Russia to wait for 
better times. 



62 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



In time, when he heard that the vice-regent 
of Norway, a natural son of Canute, was unpopular, 
he gathered an army, returned to Norway, and 
fought a great battle at or near Stickelstad, in 
which he was killed, fighting like a fiend under 
the banner of the cross. A few years later, his 
body was found, as some say, undecayed, but as 
others explain the miracle, a blind beggar received 
his sight that he might see the dead body, which 
was regarded by the superstitious people, who as 
yet were but half converted, as a divine declara- 
tion of the truth of the religion in the cause of 
which he died. Directly a revulsion took place 
in the public sentiment. His cruelties and atroci- 
ties were at once forgotten, and he was canonized, 
his remains brought to Trondhjem and there 
buried, where he had built a church, and he was 
ever after known as St. Olaf, or Olaf the Holy. 
A chapel was erected over his new grave, which, 
by successive alterations, improvements and addi- 
tions, has grown to the present cathedral, which 
is the most celebrated in Scandinavia. To his 
shrine pilgrimages were made from all parts of 
the Christian world, and many churches even in 
other countries were dedicated to this precious 
saint. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



63 



Of course the first visit the next day was to 
this great cathedral. Any attempt to describe 
this building would extend this sketch beyond its 
purpose. There is a want of harmony in the 
parts ; many are submitting to the hand of time 
and crumbling away ; and a part is being rebuilt 
Built up of pieces and patches, some hundreds 
of years ago and others quite recently, the 
whole is inharmonious ; still there is much in its 
architecture to be admired, and much in its orna- 
mentation worthy of study. Several times burned 
and several times plundered of its costly treas- 
ures, as we wander through it associations of a 
discordant character spring up, and we look with 
interest upon a place which has been the theater 
of such varied scenes, when ruder manners pre- 
vailed, and glory, religion and violence were so 
mingled and associated as to present pictures 
revolting to modern civilization, and entirely at 
variance with the hospitality and kindly feeling 
to strangers and each other so characteristic of 
the present generation. 

Through a dark passage in one corner of the 
cathedral we were shown a well to which tra- 
dition ascribes a miraculous origin, for it springs 
up, or rather down, precisely where St. Olaf was 



64 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



buried. Its waters are said to possess marvelous 
virtues, but we did not try them, and whether 
we were materially benefited by looking down 
into the darkness I cannot say. 

The constitution of Norway does not abso- 
lutely require that the kings of Norway shall be 
crowned in 'this city, but from deference to a 
national sensibility such is the custom, though 
Oscar L, on the plea of economy, omitted it. In 
obedience to this custom, Oscar II., king of Nor- 
way and Sweden, came to Trondhjem and was 
here crowned by the bishop, in ancient form, the 
year before my visit, 1873, m tne °ld cathedral, 
as have been all the kings of the present dynasty 
except Oscar I. 

Although strong prejudices existed against the 
founder of this royal line, the present sovereign 
is very popular in Norway, and his two imme- 
diate predecessors, Oscar I. and Carl XV., by 
wise and conciliatory measures were at least 
equally beloved by the people. Although under 
the same sovereign as Sweden, the two kingdoms 
are in fact as independent of each other as if 
ruled by different sovereigns. The present con- 
stitution of Norway was adopted in 18 14, and in 
its support and the maintenance of the independ- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



65 



ence of the kingdom a degree of patriotism is felt 
and exhibited among all classes of the people, 
from the highest to the lowest, which is refresh- 
ing. No suspicion of bribery or corruption 
among public men is ever heard of. No rings 
or jobbery is ever thought of, but the public 
men devote themselves in earnest and in good 
faith to the advancement of the public weal. 

The population of Trondhjem is about twenty 
thousand, and in refinement and intelligence will 
compare favorably with those of any other city, 
and for hospitality and courtesy to strangers can 
scarcely be equaled in other countries. While 
there are not such colossal fortunes as are some- 
times found in other lands, the amount of capital 
owned is large, and there is no indication of 
extreme poverty. There is no gorgeous display 
of wealth and extravagance, but rather a refined 
simplicity in harmony with contentment, virtue, 
and integrity. 

There is a line of steamers which runs from 
Hamburg to Hammerfest in winter, and to Vardo 
and Vadso in summer. The former is at the ex- 
treme eastern point of the Norwegian territory. 
South of this the coast trends to the west, and leads 

down to the mouth of the great Varanger Fjord, 
5 



66 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



just within the mouth of which stands Vadso. 
Although the whole of this great fjord is within 
the kingdom, the Russian line reaches nearly to 
its south cape, so that it is practically the line 
between the kingdom and the empire. This line 
of steamers is owned and managed here. 

At all the hotels, stores, banks, post office, 
telegraph office, and indeed wherever intercourse 
may be expected, German, French and English 
are spoken, and generally with a good accent. 
Indeed all candidates for appointment in the 
postal and telegraph service must bear an exam- 
ination in these languages. It is indeed surpris- 
ing to observe how large a proportion of the 
middle classes are really proficient in foreign 
languages. 

In the afternoon we took carriols behind little 
shaggy ponies, and took a fine drive up the banks 
of the river Nid, and then across the river to 
the high hills which bound the city on the east. 
From here the view is one of the finest I have 
met with in my travels. High above the city, 
we looked down upon it as upon a map, where 
every street and alley, every building and every 
bridge was plainly revealed before us. 

On one side the bay, one of the most beau- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



67 



tiful in the world, with its bluffs and rocky 
islands, on the other the river, which rushes 
down from the mountains beyond and then winds 
its way with many turns and a rapid current to 
the fjord, embrace the peninsula on which the 
city stands. Out in the bay in front of the city 
stands the fortified island of Munkholm, which 
was once used for the confinement of prisoners 
of state. Here it was that Christian V. of Den- 
mark confined his chief minister, Count Griffen- 
feld, for eighteen years in one of the towers, and 
where he came from Copenhagen to gloat over 
the sufferings of the great minister who was once 
his favorite. So it is when love is turned to 
hate it is the most insatiate. Eight hundred 
and fifty years ago the great Canute built on 
this island a Benedictine monastery, and that is 
the first account we have of its occupancy. Its 
position is admirable for defensive purposes, but 
its works could afford no protection against 
modern means of warfare. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Steamer accommodations; cheapness of travel; Norwegian 
miles; the currency; rates of watermen; embarkation; 
reasons why docks not used ; daylight at midnight ; 
popular celebration of midsummer night; among the 
islands; their number; cod fishing, CATCHING, DRYING AND 
packing; meals on the steamer; the flat-bread. 

HAVING done the place the best we could 
in our limited time, we made preparations 
to go on board the Hakon-Jarl, the little steamer 
on which we were to proceed on our northern 
voyage. I had been on board the day before 
and secured the only state room on the boat for 
the ladies of my party, selecting a place on a 
side seat in the dining saloon for my own bed. 
These side seats were about six feet long and 
twenty inches wide, and were all occupied as 
sleeping berths, while other berths were sus- 
pended above them. The Hakon-Jarl (so named 
for an earl of the tenth century, who was a 
great favorite of the Trondhjemers) is the smallest 
steamer of the line from Hamburg to Vardo, one 
of which leaves Trondhjem every Tuesday night, 

or rather Wednesday morning, for the north, the 

(69) 



70 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



year round, while another steamer of a weekly 
line from Stettin, on the Baltic, via Christiania to 
Tromso, leaves every Saturday morning. 

The fare is very moderate, and by taking a 
return ticket at the same time, it is procured at 
about half rates, and this is available on the 
boats of the other line as well. Another reduc- 
tion is made to families, whereby a family of 
four gets tickets for about the price of three 
fares. The passage fare does not include board 
on the boat, which has to be paid extra to the 
steward, to whom that branch of the business is 
farmed out. This is not high, but cheap as com- 
pared with the expense of living in other coun- 
tries. Indeed I may say here once for all, that 
the expense of traveling in Norway is ridiculously 
cheap. My whole traveling expenses, including 
transportation, subsistence and service, did not 
exceed three dollars per day while in Norway, 
and this included a land journey of nearly two 
hundred and fifty miles (when I speak of miles, 
I mean English miles, unless special mention is 
otherwise made — a Norwegian mile is equal to 
7.018 English miles), in a good carriage, across 
the Dover-fjeld, from Storen to Lille Hammer 
and Christiania. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



71 



And now I may speak of the currency of the 
country. This consists of specie dollars, marks, 
and skillings (pronounced shillings). One Nor- 
wegian dollar cost me, including commission, ex- 
change, and everything, one dollar and twenty-one 
cents in greenbacks, when my drafts were paid at 
my home bank. At that time the premium on 
gold averaged about ten per cent. There are 
twenty-four skillings in a mark, and five marks 
in a dollar. Since I left the country a new treaty 
between Norway, Sweden and Denmark has gone 
into operation to unify the currency of the three 
kingdoms, whereby the Swedish kroner is made 
the standard, and the smaller coins decimals of 
kroners. Four kroners are equal to one specie 
dollar. The former Danish standard was equal 
to half a specie dollar, or two kroners. This 
change will be a great convenience to travelers 
in Scandinavia. 

Let me mention here the tariff fixed by law 
for watermen, whose services are brought into 
requisition whenever one wants to go on board 
or 4and from a vessel. They are allowed four 
skillings — say five cents of our money — for each 
passenger and two skillings for each trunk or box, 
while the hand baggage — satchels and bundles 



72 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



— go free. From this one may judge that the 
boy who blacks your boots is well paid with a 
skilling. 

I see I am a good while getting on board, 
but as it is daylight all the time, and the steamer 
will not sail till one o'clock in the morning, we 
need not be in haste. I told Hattram, who I 
had engaged as interpreter, to have a cart ready 
to take our baggage on board at eleven o'clock 
P. M., and at that hour we left our hotel and 
walked to the dock, which was about a quarter 
of a mile distant, on the river, near its mouth. 
When I had visited the steamer the day before, 
she was alongside the dock, but now I was sur- 
prised to find that she had anchored out in the 
stream about twenty feet from the shore and say 
thirty feet below the stairway leading down to 
the water. And here was a great crowd of pas- 
sengers pressing forward to reach the boats which 
were passing between the landing and the ship. 
Hattram got our baggage as near the top of the 
stairs as possible, and then crowded down and 
engaged a boat exclusively for our party. That 
being once settled he commanded the situation, 
for the boatman would allow no one to get into it 
without his orders. With the help of a fellow- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



73 



countryman he got all the baggage into the boat 
and then took us in, and after that admitted as 
many more as could be seated. The tide was 
running out like a mill-race, and the water was 
seething and foaming around our little boat, the 
foot of the stairs, the bow of the steamer, and 
every other opposing object. We shot down to 
the gangway like an arrow, and crawled up the 
ladder to the deck in the crowd and confusion 
always observed on such occasions. 

If asked why the vessel was removed from the 
dock and all the passengers and baggage sent on 
board in the small boat, to the very great dis- 
comfort of the passengers and greatly increased 
labor in handling the baggage, I can give no 
more satisfactory answer than I received from 
the officers of the steamer when I made the same 
inquiry. So far as I saw or heard, after faithful 
inquiry, in Norway a steamer never goes to a 
dock to receive or land passengers, but always 
anchors out in the stream or bay, and commu- 
nication is established with the shore by means 
of small boats. This was universally the case 
with both passengers and freight at every point 
above Trondhjem, but at Trondhjem they went 
to the dock to land and receive freight. At 



n 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



every place we stopped on the voyage, and it 
was many times a day, I could see no possible 
difficulty in building a dock, nor could I hear of 
any. The shores were almost always bold, so 
that a little way from shore deep water was 
reached — always entirely land-locked, no winds 
or seas could disturb it, or interfere with reach- 
ing it. Not a particle of ice forms during the 
coldest winter, so the structure could not be 
endangered from that cause — indeed I could 
see or hear of no earthly reason why the great 
expense and inconvenience resulting from that 
primitive mode of doing business should be 
incurred, unless indeed it was because Har- 
old had done so a thousand years before ; 
and if the truth could be known I have no 
doubt he run his little barks up to the bold 
shores and stepped directly from them to the 
rocks. Indeed, at many places — yes, at every 
town of but a few hundred inhabitants, there 
was a dock, but the steamers never went near 
it. For want of practice, the officers of the 
boats mirfit find it a work of time and trouble to 

o 

bring them safely to a dock, and so they avoid 
it whenever that is possible. But a little practice 
would make them as expert as those in com- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



75 



mand of our western craft, when they bring them 
up so gently as hardly to crack a nut by the 
contact, and without the loss of a minutes time. 
Indeed, I saw nothing else in Norway which I 
thought needed reform more than this. It con- 
stantly reminded me of putting the corn in one 
end of the bag and a stone in the other to bal- 
ance it upon the horse's back. 

By the time we found ourselves comfortably 
seated on the upper deck it was midnight, or 
rather, I should say, low twelve. Still it was 
broad daylight — we could see to read the finest 
print, although the sun had been below the 
horizon for some minutes, and it would be some 
minutes before he would again appear. It was 
the longest day in the year, that twenty-third 
of June, and according to an immemorial custom 
the people were celebrating the event in a right 
good jolly way. 

A mile or more away upon the hills which 
surround the city on the east we could see 
great crowds of people congregated, many danc- 
ing upon the ground to music, only the loudest 
notes of which reached us in subdued strains, 
while others were playing around great fires, the 
effect of which was nearly destroyed by the want 



76 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



of darkness to afford a contrast, and the boys 
and girls were playing romping games among 
the fields. 

Our glasses brought them close to us, so that 
only the loud shout, the merry laugh and the 
national song, which our glasses could not bring 
within hearing, were wanting to give us the full 
benefit of the scenes of joy which were enacting 
on that festive day, or rather night, if you can 
think of night without darkness. There we sat 
and watched the happy gathering, sometimes 
noticing a couple steal away from the gay throng 
and seem to hold converse by themselves, and 
then we felt sure that Cupid threw about his 
darts among the youths of Norge as in more 
southern climes, where warmer blood is supposed 
to flow, and there is more darkness in summer- 
time, at least, to hide the timid blush. 

At last two o'clock came. The sun was well 
up and shining upon us from above the island 
peaks which dotted the fjord below, and the 
crowds upon the hills began to scatter, but we 
saw no signs that our boat was about to start. 
So we concluded to try to get a little sleep, 
though it seemed unnatural enough to go to bed 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



77 



in broad daylight, although it was two o'clock 
in the morning. 

I was asleep when we got under way, and was 
dislodged by the cabin boys, who wanted all the 
room there was to set the breakfast-table. When 
I went on deck, I found we were gliding along 
among the islands in still water. The weather 
was fair, and the sun brightly shining ; still it 
was cool and even chilly, so that an overcoat 
was necessary for comfort. Indeed, the tempera- 
ture was very much lowered since the day before. 
Hitherto the snow had only been visible on the 
tops of the far-off mountains ; now it began to 
appear on the tops of the islands all around us. 

I could not learn that any attempt has ever 
been made to count or number the islands on 
the Norwegian coast. They must amount to 
many thousands. They are of every size, from a 
single point of rock rising above the water to 
many miles in extent ; but everyone may be 
called a mountain, if it be large enough to hold 
a mountain. In a very few places, the mainland 
approaches near to the open ocean, but generally 
the islands extend for many miles from the main 
shore. 

Not all the channels between these islands 



78 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



are navigable, but generally they are deep, with 
very bold shores, so that the steamer may run 
very close to the land. This feature reminded 
me of the channels among the islands in Puget's 
Sound. The islands are nearly all masses of 
rock, and appeared to be almost naked, and at 
some places they were entirely naked and 
smoothly polished. Frequently they would rise 
almost vertically out of the water for many hun- 
dred feet, while in other places there would be 
many acres of smooth naked rock along the 
shore, not level indeed, but quite accessible. 

These within the Arctic Circle were generally 
covered with codfish spread out to dry. The 
fish taken away up in Finmark are salted in 
bulk in the holds of the vessels used, and when 
the fishing season is over they are run down into 
these warmer latitudes, taken out, and washed 
and spread to dry on these rocks. When suf- 
ficiently dried, they are gathered up into small 
round stacks about four feet in diameter, and 
five or six feet high, the tails being placed in the 
center, and the broad portions at the circumfer- 
ence. The center being kept the highest, they 
shed off the rain so as to keep the interior 
perfectly dry. Here they stand until shipped in 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



79 



sea-going vessels to foreign countries. If we saw 
thousands of acres thus covered with drying fish 
along the channels we pursued, many thousands 
more must have been so covered along the 
numerous other channels which we did not see. 
I do not remember that we saw any of these 
fish-covered rocks till we passed within the Arctic 
Circle ; but after that they occurred very fre- 
quently, till we got nearly to Hammerfest. 

The drying season was drawing to a close, for 
we saw many parties, consisting of men, women 
and children, gathering the fish from the rocks 
and putting them in stacks. The skilled part of 
that operation was evidently the stacking, and 
that, I observed, was generally performed by 
women, while the children gathered up and 
brought the fish to them, and the men — well, 
they seemed to be bossing the job generally, and 
looking at the steamer as she passed along. 
After we were gone, no doubt they worked the 
harder. 

When I had an opportunity of carefully ex- 
amining these stacks of fish, I saw that real 
skill was required in their construction ; they 
were perfectly round, and their walls were as 
straight and regular as possible. When we re- 



80 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



turned some weeks later, nearly all the fish were 
in stack, and some were being loaded into ves- 
sels for foreign markets. Their appearance re- 
minded one of a meadow in our own country 
covered over with hay-cocks. 

This morning, we took our first meal on board 
a Norwegian steamer. It was served at eight 
o'clock. Those who desired it had coffee brought 
them on deck before breakfast, or took it in the 
saloon. The breakfast was only tolerable ; the 
chops were rather poor, and the steaks were 
rather tough; but this we expected, for we knew 
their cattle and sheep could not compare with 
those from the rich pastures in lower latitudes. 
The potatoes were very fine. There, as in our 
own country, the best potatoes are grown in high 
latitudes. While rye bread was the staple, there 
was good wheat bread and sea-biscuit on the 
table for those who preferred them. I observed 
that the Norwegians of every class preferred the 
rye bread; and so we began to use it, so as to 
acquire the taste, if possible, for at times we 
should no doubt be able to get nothing else, and 
so it sometimes happened. The more we ate of 
it the better we liked it, and before we left Nor- 
way we became rather fond of it. One kind of 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



81 



rye bread particularly attracted our notice, and 
it was. very good. It was as thin, almost, as the 
paper I am now writing upon, evidently baked 
upon a sort of griddle in sheets of an unknown 
size, perhaps as large as a newspaper. It was 
broken up into pieces of irregular form, and 
of a size convenient to pile up on a plate, It 
would take a piece larger than your hand for a 
moderate mouthful. You would eat an immense 
surface of this during an ordinary meal, provided 
only you liked it. It is called Fladbrod (flat- 
bread). 

A different price was charged for each meal, 
while for coffee, tea and other drinkables, except 
water, an extra charge was made. 

We were quite disappointed at not finding fish 
upon the table, when we had anticipated so much 
as soon as we should reach that piscatorial para- 
dise. So it is often, if not always. They thought 
fish too common, and so they must treat us to 
poor mutton and beef, that we might be favor- 
ably impressed on the start. I managed, through 
my interpreter, to explain to the steward that we 
would be content to have fish on the table, and 
would even like it if well cooked. He profited 
by the hint, and I had the satisfaction of seeing 

6 



82 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



some fine fat salmon taken on board at the next 
stopping-place, and the attention we paid to them 
at dinner encouraged him to supply us regularly 
thereafter. In fact, we had so much fish before 
we left Norway, and of the best in the world, 
that I really felt scaly, and was sometimes almost 
afraid to look at a hook. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Coast towns axd people; local travel axd traffic; xo bag- 
gage smashing; Torghattex, the natural tunnel; the 
sevex sisters; exterixg the snow- area; "the horseman's" 
islaxd; legexd of the horsemax axd the tunnel; the 
midxight sun; straxge sexsatioxs produced; a school for 

MYTHS. 

OUR stops were so frequent that our real 
progress w r as slow, though the little 
steamer was smart when under way. These fre- 
quent stops furnished an excellent opportunity to 
observe the people, and many of their habits and 
customs. Here the waters are the public high- 
ways, and so their carriages must be water-craft. 
They go visiting, to church, and to business, in 
their boats. A young lady does not hesitate to 
jump into her light shallup, and row off half-a- 
dozen miles to call on her associates and have a 
chat about parties, picnics and beaux. Young 
people enjoy their social interviews in these 
boreal regions as much as in warmer countries, 
and the good dames enjoy their tea parties in 

the fishermen's huts with as much neighborly 

(83) 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



gossip as those who occupy more stately dwell- 
ings in other lands. 

At every station more or less passengers 
were let off or taken on. Sometimes hundreds 
would be crowded on the lower deck, men, women 
and children, with pigs, chickens and ducks, calves 
and cows, going to a fair, with provisions con- 
sisting of pickled herring and black rye bread to 
last them a week. These might stay with us a 
day, or only a few hours, when they would disem- 
bark with all their impedimenta. 

It was astonishing to see with what celerity and 
care the sailors would handle all this stuff, con- 
sisting largely of frail boxes or chests, every one 
of which our baggage smashers would have de- 
molished in a very short time. In place of a 
satchel, each woman had a little tub or box made 
something like a bandbox, with an erect side- 
handle like a piggin. It has a thin board cover, 
which catches in a notch at the handle, and fastens 
with a button at a point opposite. In this they 
carry their knitting or sewing-work, small articles 
of apparel, and their bread and the like. These 
are of various sizes, are very frail, and I felt in 
constant apprehension of seeing them crushed as 
they were quickly handled by the sailors, mixed 



PERPETUAL SUMMER. 



85 



in with the other baggage; but I never saw one 
injured. All this baggage had to be taken up 
the steamer's sides from the small boats and 
landed in the same way. Two donkey-engines 
were placed fore and aft to hoist heavy articles 
from the boats and lower them into the hold. 
During all the time I was on board Norwegian 
steamers, I never saw but one article injured, 
and that was a heavy chest, from which the rope 
slipped, and which fell into the hold. At this 
the mate gave an exhibition of loud talking, 
but whether it was Norske profanity I could only 
judge from the accent and the wag of the head. 
From these I judged it to be such. 

I would cordially recommend to American rail- 
road superintendents to employ Scandinavian 
baggagemen, if they can procure them, before 
they have become so demoralized as to think it 
a commendable feat to smash a trunk and scat- 
ter a lady's wardrobe all about the platform, and 
then chuckle over the exhibition. 

On the second morning, soon after breakfast, 
we were notified that we were approaching Torg- 
hatten, which is one of the sights not to be missed 
on this route. This is a very steep, sharp mount- 
ain more than one thousand feet high, situated 



86 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



on an island. About half-way up, the mountain 
is pierced through and through with a large 
opening. To see daylight right through a mount- 
ain was indeed a novelty; so all were on deck, 
and every glass was brought into requisition. We 
passed within less than a quarter of a mile of the 
island, or the foot of the mountain, which gave 
us a fine view of the natural tunnel. The light 
through it looked like a large white star. The 
mate told me that he had been through it, and 
that it was fifty feet wide and nearly twice as 
high, and even much larger in some places, and 
about five hundred feet in length ; that the arch 
at the top is very perfect, while the floor is 
highest in the middle, though not sufficiently so 
to account for the removal of the material 
which had been disengaged to form the opening. 
The floor is thickly strewn with masses of rock 
and debris, and no doubt the tunnel is constantly 
enlarging ; only I do not understand what brings 
out the fallen material. We can readily under- 
stand that after it is once brought out it rolls 
down and is buried in the deep water at the foot 
of the mountain. I will further on give the legend 
which accounts for this hole in the wall. 

Before noon, the first of the Seven Sisters 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



87 



came into view, and presently all were visible. 
These are seven very lofty snow-capped mount- 
ain peaks, which rise clear and sharp against the 
sky from the islands to the west of our course, 
though we passed quite near the feet of some of 
them. There is a sort of order in their arrange- 
ment, and they are near enough together to war- 
rant a relationship. They are bleak naked rocks, 
and rising so far above all surrounding objects 
as at once to attract attention and secure an 
interest. In fact they constitute one of the sights 
always to be pointed out, and which the traveler 
must in no wise omit to see. 

As we were approaching the Arctic Circle, the 
snow upon the mountains prevailed more and 
more, and approached nearer to the water's edge. 
The intervals along- the shores which afford sites 
for the fishermen's huts became less frequent and 
smaller, and the vegetation became more scanty. 
Already the white birch became the prevailing 
tree, and this was rarely more than a shrub. 

As we left the last landing, about eleven 
o'clock at night, the captain told us that we 
should soon be in sight of Hestmandon, or Horse- 
man's Island, which for several reasons must be 
considered one of the interesting sights of this 



88 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



journey. The top of the mountain on this small 
island is supposed to resemble a cavalier mounted 
on a prancing steed, with his cloak flowing behind 
him ; and from some points of view, doubtless, 
with the aid of the imagination, it may look so. 
Many could see all this very plainly from our 
position as we passed it ; but for myself, I had 
to confess to defective eyesight, though I claimed 
to have as much imagination as the best of them. 
One of the passengers, an intelligent public officer 
of the kingdom, gave us the legend which ac- 
counts for the horseman on the mountain, and 
the hole in the mountain behind us, and I am 
sure I can do authentic history no better service 
than to insert it substantially here. 

" Before the Norwegians embraced Christianity 
(and very long before that time), all the large, 
rocky islands along the Norwegian coast, as well 
as the largest mountains in the interior of the 
country, were inhabited by monstrous giants or 
trolls, of both sexes. At the island of Leko 
lived such a troll, a fair lady of great charms, 
and at Hestmanden, nine* miles north of Leko, a 
valorous oriant. Of course this oriant must fall in 
love with the lady, and accordingly he made her 

* Remember one Norwegian mile is equal to seven English miles. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



89 



a proposal of marriage. However, the lady re- 
jected his courtship, and he, becoming furiously 
enraged, meditated revenge, and resolved to kill 
her. Being- a eood archer, as most of the in- 
habitants were in former days, he took his bow 
and shot an arrow at the maiden ; but before 
this arrow could reach her, it had to pass the 
mountain of Torghatten, through which it made 
a large hole, and struck off her head, she being 
then on the further side. This hole, which ap- 
pears as a round horizontal passage through the 
mountain, is to be seen at this day by every 
traveler in passing up the Norwegian coast to 
Nordland, as are also the fair lady and the 
giant's arrow, both transformed into stone, at 
Leko. The giant man was Hestmanden (a 
horseman), after whom the island took its name; 
the lady's name was Leko Moya (the maiden of 
Leko)." 

Our informant omitted to state one important 
infirmity ascribed to these ancient trolls, and 
that is, that they were inexorably doomed to 
night-work. During the day they must remain 
secluded in their dark cavern homes, and if by 
any chance they became belated, so that the rays 
of the sun once touched them, they were in- 



90 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



stantly transformed into stone, with all their ap- 
pendages. So it was with Hestmanden. He 

x O 

lingered on the island, which was his favorite 
nocturnal abode, till he saw the sun was about 
to rise, when he donned his armor with his cap 
and cloak, and leaped upon his ready steed, which 
made a single bound, when the sun peeped over 
the mountain top and struck him with his rays, 
when all became fixed in solid granite ; and so 
has he there remained ever since, a warning to 
all other trolls to keep better hours, if not to 
curb their rage and forbear to shoot at lady 
trolls who reject their suits. 

It is to be much regretted that the captain 
would not stop, as we passed it twelve hours 
before, and allow us to examine the petrified 
arrow which pierced the mountain, and the pre- 
served remains of the fascinating giantess. But 
who can doubt the truth of the story and the 
prowess of the ancient inhabitants of the islands, 
with the palpable evidence of the pierced mount- 
ain before us ? 

The Arctic Circle passes through or over the 
highest point of Hestmanden as if it would split 
the cavalier's cap, and for that reason, too, it 
must be an object of no small interest to every 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



91 



traveler. A good while ago we were in sight of 
this interesting point, and we very naturally 
desired to pass it as near midnight as possi- 
ble, and so as we approached it watches were 
compared with the ship's time and held in hand. 
I know not if the captain regulated his motions 
to produce that result, but so it was that we 
passed the imaginary line within a minute of 
twelve o'clock ! and, directly after, we passed an 
opening between the islands which gave us a 
view of the sun when his lower edge was just 
leaving the horizon and he was commencing a 
new day's journey. Now we had seen the mid- 
night sun — the glorious spectacle we had come 
so far to see. The sun had shone upon us at 
midnight, with feeble rays no doubt, giving a 
strange, I may almost say an unearthly, light ; still 
it was day, though soft and subdued, at midnight. 
No lights w T ere needed on the ship, and none had 
been lighted since we had come on board, for it 
was always broad daylight. Up to this time, 
when the sun had sunk below the horizon, the 
obscuration was as brief as if hidden by a 
passing cloud. Practically the last three days 
had been but fractions of that long unbroken day 
most of which was still before us. 



92 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



Thus far none had thought of sleep, and now 
to go to bed after the sun was so high up seemed 
to smack of dissolute habits ; but we knew we 
must have rest to enjoy the scenes of another 
day, so we said good night and stretched our- 
selves upon our narrow shelves to sleep, and 
dream wonderful dreams inspired by these new 
surroundings. 

There is something about the appearance of 
this strange land which inspires one with a 
strange sensation, and makes one feel as if he 
had got into another world. The light of day 
without a break of night forces an impression 
that we are in some far-off place, where the laws 
of nature are suspended, and we are prepared to 
see an actual giant striding from island to island, 
or an arrow shot that can pierce a mountain, or 
any other strange scene or occurrence, no more 
new than the perpetual day that shines upon us. 
The daylight, too, differs from the light of our 
own days. The rays of the sun strike us so 
obliquely that they give a weaker light than in 
our own short days at home. They seem to be 
deprived of some of the elements of the rays 
which reach us in lower latitudes. The light 
seems faint or sickly; at least it lacks the force 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



93 



and vigor of that which shines on us at home. 
Though you may see as far and as distinctly here 
as anywhere, yet the light is different. Some- 
times when the sun is low at home, and has been 
hid away behind great masses of black and angry 
clouds, he may for a few minutes find a crevice 
and break through, and shine full upon the earth ; 
yet the light is not cheering, but rather threaten- 
ing, and inspires a sort of feeling that something 
unusual is about to happen. It seems to me so 
here. It is not alarming, but it produces a weird 
sensation as if a new leaf was about to be turned 
in the book of nature, when you may look for 
something out of the ordinary course, and so 
your interest never flags in watching for some- 
thing new anc | strange. 

One day of such sensations is worth a month 
or any longer time you please of sight-seeing in 
other lands, where all of interest is the work of 
poor feeble man, which at the best but exhibits 
his puny powers in efforts to imitate that which 
God has made in absolute perfection. 

If I am singular in preferring Natures beau- 
ties to the charms of art, I cannot help it. I 
have tried to love the husk and neglect the corn, 
but somehow still I feel subdued and yet elated 



94 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



in beholding the phenomena which are the finger- 
marks of Him who makes stars, suns and sys- 
tems with no more effort than the least of all 
the thing's He has ever made. 

In looking upon the things around me, and 
feeling the weird charm and the strange sensa- 
tion which they must inspire, I could easily com- 
prehend the source of the wild legends which 
those who, in former times and with no other 
literature, lived amid such surroundings, loved to 
hear and tell and, if possible, to believe. Love 
for the marvelous should here be strongest, where 
so much of what we see and feel seems marvelous 
and unnatural. 



CHAPTER VII L 



The Arctic Circle; the island fishermen; snows and silvery 
streams; light and shade at midnight; eider ducks; 

GATHERING THE DOWN; THE TRADE IN DOWN; THE EIDER 

family in Norway; Bodo; a good time with the children; 

THEIR GOOD BEHAVIOR; FLOWERING MOSS; AN ACCIDENT; LEAVE 
BODO; PECULIAR FISH; ARRIVE AT TROMSO. 

I KNOW I had learned at school the precise 
latitude of the Arctic Circle, and was ashamed 
to own that I had forgotten it. A general in- 
quiry, however, showed that all were as ignorant 
as myself — nor could the captain or the mate 
give us the desired information. This led to an 
examination of the chart, and I may state for the 
information of others whose memories may be as 
.treacherous as ours proved to be, that we found 
it to be 66° 30' 15" in north latitude. Probably 
none of us who were on board that ship will forget 
these figures again, for before they were found 
the point created quite an interest. But you 
must remember that passengers on shipboard are 
disposed to make much of every incident which 
can afford a little excitement or amusement. 

(95) 



96 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



The next morning, when I went on deck, we 
"were gliding swiftly along the still waters between 
the islands. The islands were more precipitous, 
the birch shrubbery not so abundant, and the 
intervales along the shores less. Still we were 
rarely out of sight of a fisherman's hut, and fre- 
quently clusters of them, where the ground would 
admit ; sometimes two or three of these little 
settlements would be on the same island and 
quite near together, with no roadway between 
them, their only intercourse being by water. 
Under such circumstances we can well under- 
stand that each member of a family can pull an 
oar or set a sail skillfully, and is quite as much 
at home upon the water as upon the land. 

It was very rare we were out of sight of fish- 
ermen engaged at their work, although they 
seemed more generally to select the night, or 
those hours which are night in other countries, 
rather than the day, because at that time it is 
said the fish bite the best, though I am at a loss 
to determine how the fish know the difference. 

Now the snow covered the tops of all the 
mountain islands, and in protected places ex- 
tended to the very edge of the waters. The flow- 
ing rivulets down the mountain sides showed that 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



91 



the snow was fast melting under the influence of 
a perpetual sun. 

These rivulets looked like silver threads 
against the dark background of the smooth 
and almost vertical rock, in the face of which 
they have worn for themselves little channels 
which concentrate the waters. Sometimes, many 
of these will be united into one before they reach 
the bottom, forming a considerable stream, which 
oftentimes makes a sheer leap of ten to a hun- 
dred feet, the light spray waving in the wind 
like the bridal veil in the Yosemite Valley. In 
one place, this day, we counted twenty-seven of 
these little streams tumbling in milk-white foam 
down the face of an unbroken rock, which rose 
almost vertically from the waters of the tjord 
many hundreds of feet high, and about half a 
mile long. Their sources were in the snow-capped 
mountain beyond, quite out of sight. Sometimes, 
when the mountain side was less precipitous, 
great snow-banks had accumulated, beneath which 
the streamlets from above would disappear, and 
then again emerge before being swallowed up by 
salt sea waters. The scenes among these islands 
were ever changing as we passed rapidly along, 
the view now being confined by the black precip- 

7. 



98 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



itous walls between which we passed, and now, 
distant vistas were opened among the islands, to 
be again closed as we passed into the dark 
shadow of some overhanging mountain. 

It is toward midnight in the Arctic Circle in 
the summer-time, that the richest scenes of light 
and shade are presented to the view of the trav- 
eler among the islands on the Norwegian coast. 
Objects are then presented as in the shifting 
scenes of a moving panorama. 

Sometimes he sees the sheen of the glittering 
snow on the distant mountain-top as the bright 
rays of the sun are reflected back in gorgeous 
splendor, some portions much lighter than others. 
Presently an intervening island shuts out the 
view, and then again a different one is opened 
to his sight. Before him, he thinks he sees the 
mouth of a glowing furnace bursting forth from 
a rent in the side of a mountain, which shortly 
fades into a rich red, or pink, or yellow shade, 
and diffuses itself over a broader surface ; when 
presently, he sees the brightness dying out by his 
changed position, till- a sombre shade seems to 
settle down upon all around him, to be again 
dispelled by a virgin brightness, which lights up 
all within his view, and smiles upon him a win- 



* 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



99 



ning welcome. Surely this is a land of fairies, 
where they dance and laugh and sing, without a 
shade of night to break their revelry. You think 
you see them in their gay attire flitting from crag 
to crag, or hiding in their dwelling-caves, which 
you imagine are lit up with gems and jewels more 
gorgeous than human hands have ever set. 

Well may we expect that the humblest fisher- 
men living in the midst of such enchanting scenes 
are filled with a glowing imagination, and people 
the hills and caverns with unreal beings, and 
ascribe extravagant forms to those who lived 
there long ages since. 

This day we saw the first eider-ducks (soma- 
term mollissimd). These birds are only found, 
at least abundantly, in the arctic waters. On the 
Norwegian coast they are protected by stringent 
laws, which are rigidly enforced, and as a conse- 
quence they are quite tame, though the passage 
of the steamer alarms them, and they fly away 
before it. They are a size larger than the Mal- 
lard duck. The male is white and black, the 
female is of a nearly uniform tawny brown. 

Their down is a source of considerable rev- 
enue to the owner of the ground where they 
nest, who alone is allowed to gather it; for it is 



100 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



considered as much his private property as are 
his domestic animals. They have their favorite 
haunts for nesting, and the value of an island 
is much enhanced by their partiality. When 
the female makes her nest she plucks down 
from her breast sufficient to line it abundantly. 
This the owner of the ground, after a time, 
carefully removes. She suffers this to be done 
without leaving. Again the bird plucks herself 
and lines the nest anew, which is again re- 
moved, when her pertinacity again prompts her 
to furnish her nest with a new lining. With 
this she is allowed to remain undisturbed, to 
complete the incubation. After she has left 
with her young brood another harvest is gath- 
ered from the deserted nest. This is much less 
valuable than the others, owing to its impurity. 
None, however, is fit for the market as it is 
taken from the nest ; all has to be carefully 
picked out from the twigs and dirt with which 
it had become entangled in the nest. 

I was informed that it takes about four 
pounds, as it is taken from the nest, to furnish 
one pound of clean down, fit for the market. I 
paid four dollars per pound for the clean down 
in Tromso. This down is of a pale lead color, 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



101 



and is exceedingly light and elastic. A pound 
may be compressed into a bag holding less than 
two quarts, and no matter how long it remains 
thus compressed, when removed it springs out 
to an incredible bulk. 

I have already spoken of the bed covers 
lined with down, and some were claimed to be 
of eider down, but probably this is rare, or 
indulged in only by the wealthy. The coarser 
down from other water-fowl is light enough and 
warm enough to satisfy one not ambitious of 
making a great display. 

In other regions, where the law does not 
protect the eider-ducks, they are killed, not for 
food but for their skins, which are tanned and 
made into blankets or robes. The coarse feathers 
are plucked out, leaving only the down, which is 
very thick set. The different colored skins of 
the male and female being interspersed make a 
very pretty robe, though rather expensive, no 
doubt, and probably would not stand much hard 
wear, and indeed it should be considered an 
article of luxury rather than of utility. Tromso 
and Trondhjem are the best markets for the 
purchase of this class of goods, including furs. 
Eider-ducks grew more abundant as we pro- 



102 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



ceeded north, and many were met with every 
day. We saw several broods of young ones 
following their mothers, generally near the shore. 
They are sprightly little fellows and swim with 
great vigor, and, when hard pressed, dive and 
swim some distance under water. 

The eider-duck, which the Norwegians call 
eddr-fugl, abounds on both sides of Finmark, 
being as abundant in the Varanger Fjord as on 
the west coast and in the Lofodens. It is at 
home also in Greenland, Iceland, and Spitzbergen, 
and the other islands in the arctic seas, but the 
great value of its skins has offered such induce- 
ment for its pursuit that it is sensibly diminished 
in numbers where not rigidly protected by law, 
and, I may add, by public opinion. 

Although properly ranked as an arctic fowl, it 
is not strictly so. While Iceland and southern 
Greenland are below the Arctic Circle, yet, as 
we have seen, they must be included in its 
habitat ; and it was formerly found even south 
of Trondhjem, and perhaps now and then a stray 
eider-duck may be seen farther south. But 
south of that point it is beyond the protection 
of the law, while north of it the penalty for 
killing an eider-duck at any time is one specie 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



103 



dollar. It is only when we remember that a little 
money goes a great way there that we can under- 
stand how this is an adequate protection. 

The islands where these birds breed are called 
by the Norwegians fugle-vaer, or bird-islands. 

It is the great elasticity of the eider down 
which renders it so very valuable. It is said 
that this elasticity is entirely destroyed if^ the 
down is plucked by hand from the breast of the 
dead bird. It certainly retains its elasticity, at 
least to a great extent, when it remains on the 
tanned skin. About one ounce of cleaned down 
may be gathered from a nest in a year. 

I saw none of the king eider (somateria 
spectabilis), which is said to be smaller and much 
more beautiful in its colorings than the eider- 
duck; but I obtained a robe composed on both 
sides principally of the skins of the eider-duck, but 
a part of it is of the skins of the king eider. 
From these skins the feathers are all plucked, 
leaving only the very thick coat of down, except 
where a part of the feathers are left to show the 
more beautiful markines. 

Soon after breakfast we reached Bodo, which 
is a very pretty town — situated on a rising bank 
— of about six hundred inhabitants. In 1850, the 



104 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



population of Bodo was but two hundred and 
twenty-eight, but the great herring fisheries re- 
cently developed in that neighborhood have given 
to the place new life, and greatly increased its 
population and commerce, so that it now pre- 
sents a picture of busy activity. So soon as the 
anchor was dropped, we were surrounded by little 
boats all anxious for fares. It was announced 
that the steamer would remain some hours here, 
so nearly all went on shore. The streets were 
long, straight and clean, and the houses looked 
neat and comfortable. I observed a good many 
children in the streets, from the infant in its little 
carriage to boys and girls a dozen years old. I 
directly made a raid upon a candy shop and filled - 
my pockets. I soon proved that the children of 
the far north have tastes similar to our own, 
but they were decidedly more courteous and well- 
behaved than those to be met with in any Amer- 
ican town. 

I gave candy to every child I could see, either 
in the street or in a house, and my fame spread 
throughout the town in an incredibly short time ; 
but there was no rushing, noisy, begging crowd 
gathered around me. None asked me for candy, 
but all took it freely when offered, and then by 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



105 



way of. thanks shook my right hand. No doubt 
when they saw me walking along a street they 
managed to throw themselves in my way, and 
looked anxiously, but a polite courtesy or bow was 
all. If I passed by without offering any, perhaps 
the little miss would look disappointed ; but then 
when I turned around and motioned her to ap- 
proach, holding the candy in my hand, she would 
come up in a becoming way, while the boys and 
girls beside her would not rush up as if to rob 
one, as we should expect of Young America, but 
would remain standing aloof till called up in turn. 
They were smart enough to try to cheat me a 
little in a very pardonable way, for I soon ob- 
served that after receiving my candy in one 
street, some of them would throw themselves in 
my way in another street, in company with new 
associates, and looking as if they had had no 
candy that day; and a few managed to get a third 
supply, but I was careful not to let them know I 
recognized them, for that would have made them 
unhappy, and my object was to make them all as 
happy as possible, for so did I promote my own 
happiness. 

I soon found myself famous in Bodo, and I 
feel sure I may add, popular, too. Even the 



106 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



adults seemed anxious to see how I looked, for 
I could see the mothers and grown sisters slyly 
peeping around corners or through doors ajar to 
gratify their curiosity. I accomplished my object. 
I made many children happy ; but above all, I 
learned their habits, and how they were treated 
and taught at home. I found that the first and 
constant lessons they receive at home are court- 
esy, politeness and good behavior, and so it is 
they show such courtesy when grown up. 

After I had shaken hands with most, if not 
all, the little children in Bodo, I took off my 
hat and made the last as proper a bow as I knew 
how, waved my hand as a final adieu, and went 
down to the shore of the fjord, where a fisher- 
man was cleaning his fish, and I admired the 
dexterity displayed in the operation. 

Thence I went to the hill back of the town, 
to get a view of the back country. On the way, 
I came across some of the most beautiful flower- 
ing moss I ever saw, which was in full bloom, a 
tuft of which I pulled up and took on board, 
where it was the delight of all who saw it, and 
the great reoret was that all had not time to go 
and find some for themselves. 

I failed to find my party as I returned through 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



107 



the town, who had been interesting themselves 
in looking through the shops and purchasing 
little mementoes, and so I went on board alone ; 
but I had to wait some time before they came, 
for they had been waiting for me. The day was 
bright and warm, of which I have many pleasing 
recollections. But I met with an accident going 
on board, from which I suffered many weeks, 
and the effects of which I felt many months. I 
would advise travelers in Norway to beware of 
young boys for boatmen, or they may suffer for it 
We left Bodo in the afternoon, and made our 
way through the little fleets of fishing-boats, 
which told us how industrious were the people 
in pursuing their avocations at even unfavorable 
seasons of the year, and in the worst part of the 
day. But it is their business, and nothing else, 
and so they must work in season and out of 
season. 

We were always interested in watching them, 
and when one was discovered fighting with a big 
fish, glasses were brought to bear, and the con- 
test excited a real interest, till the great catch 
was hauled over the side of the boat and lay 
floundering in the bottom. Occasionally, we 
passed a group of boats which the officers pointed 



108 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



out as fishing for a peculiar and favorite kind, 
found only in those particular places, and which 
bite only at particular times. These fish, in 
northern Norway, are called uer, and in south- 
ern Norway, rofish. As the last name implies, 
they are of a red color, have very large eyes 
and mouths, and very large coarse scales. They 
are considered the finest and the most delicate 
fish in Norway, except the salmon, and command 
in the market a corresponding price. They were 
much admired on our table. I did not learn 
that they are salted for foreign markets. 

The morning of the next day brought us to 
Tromso, in front of which we dropped our anchor, 
and word was given that there would be plenty 
of time for the passengers to go on shore and 
do the town. 

Tromso is the metropolis of Finmark, or Nor- 
wegian Lapland, and is the largest city within 
the Arctic Circle. Its population is about five 
thousand five hundred — an increase of one 
thousand five hundred in ten years. It has a 
considerable foreign commerce, its exports con- 
sisting principally of fish, oil, furs, ' deer skins, 
and eider down. It is very prettily situated on 
the south bank of the fjord. The ground rises 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



109 



rapidly toward the interior, so that the city stands 
upon a hillside. It has many fine wharves and 
docks, at which vessels were constantly loading 
and unloading, but none of the steamers in port 
approached them, and all the loading and unload- 
ing, both of passengers and goods, had to be 
done with the small row-boats. As I was unable 
to go on shore at Tromso on our way north, I 
will take occasion to say something more of 
the place on our return. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Arrive at Hammerfest ; excursion by land and water to 
North Cape; the trip to Vadso; Improved whaling; ex- 
tent OF THE BUSINESS; ANOTHER VISIT TO NORTH CAPE ; HOTEL 

accommodations; primitive habits; most northern town 
IN THE world; moderate temperature; navigation never 
interrupted by ice in Norway; the effect of the gulf 
stream. 

AFTER noon we weighed anchor and steamed 
away for Hammerfest. At Ox Fjord the 
little coasting steamer came alongside and ex- 
changed mails and passengers with us. She 
belongs to the same company as the Hakon-Jarl, 
and is employed to run from Ox Fjord up to 
Alten Fjord and Bosekop, and through various 
interior channels to Hammerfest, thus saving the 
regular steamer a days time each way, and afford- 
ing more frequent communication to the interior 
settlements. It makes the round trip twice a 
week, and between Bosekop and Hammerfest 
three times a week. 

On the fifth day from Trondhjem we reached 
Hammerfest about noon. After due deliberation 
we determined to make this the terminal point 

(HI) 



112 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



of our northern passage. Although the steamer 
went round to Yadso, which is the terminal point 
of her route in summer, I could learn of no 
means to get from there to Archangel except 
by a chance sail-vessel ; hence we determined 
not to take so uncertain a chance, but to return 
to Trondhjem and proceed thence to Christiana 
by land. I have since learned that there was a 
steamer running between Yardo and Archangel, 
but very irregularly. After I left there she came 
around to Tromso for repairs. 

Beyond Hammerfest the route is, most of the 
way, in the open sea, the shelter of the islands 
there terminating.. This suggested the idea of 
again tumbling about in a boisterous ocean on 
a little boat, with its attendant discomforts of 
sea-sickness and cold weather, almost in sight of 
the frozen ocean beyond, and to compensate for 
all this there was nothing to see but an un- 
inhabited bleak and rocky coast many miles 
distant. 

It would be something, no doubt, to see 
North Cape, a bold headland nine hundred feet 
high ; but then we had seen many such within 
the last few days, only they were not North 
Cape. It is only three-quarters of a degree 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



113 



north of Hammerfest, so there was little to be 
gained in that direction. The only object, then, 
was to be able to say we had seen the Xorth 
Cape. That, after all, is not the most northern 
point of Europe. Nordkyn extends still farther 
north ; but as it is the point of a low-lying 
peninsula still farther west, and as the great 
promontory on the island of Magero is so 
much more conspicuous and may be seen from 
the ordinary route of steamers around the pen- 
insula, it has robbed its more humble neighbor 
of the distinction to which it is justly entitled. 

All the passengers went on, however, but 
ourselves. A part stopped at a fishing hut on 
the mainland, south of the cape, and got the 
fisherman to take them to the island and guide 
them to the cape. From their account it was a 
terrible journey. They were two hours in the 
sail-boat reaching the island. They then had to 
walk ten miles over the most killing- ground, 
crawling over snow-banks softened now by the 
perpetual sun, frequently sinking to the waist ; 
then climbing precipices or clambering over 
huge rocks, which strewed the surface every- 
where. Six hours such work as this brought 
them to the cape at midnight. Here the view 

8 



1U 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



was very grand, no doubt. The sun was shining 
in the north, high above the horizon, which, 
from so high a point, extended to an immense 
distance toward the frozen ocean, far beyond the 
line of vision. But it was water ! water ! water ! 
nothing but water, agitated by a moderate breeze, 
sometimes reflecting- the rays of the midnig-ht 
sun, which covered the ocean with brilliant but 
transient spots of intense light. There may be 
a sort of grandeur [ n desolation itself, if only it 

O 'J 

be vast enough. If so, then Magero, with its 
surroundings, is a grand place. On the land 
every part presents a scene of the wildest des- 
olation, and to look out to sea one involun- 
tarily shudders at the thought of being; there in 
a howling storm or of being cast upon the 
frowning rock and of what a cold sepulchre it 
would make. # 
Perspiring freely under the excessive labor 
of the journey, our friends soon felt chilled 
with the bleak winds of the cold North Cape. 
It was worth a human life to stand there long 
to gaze upon what they had come so far to 
see. The guide had brought some rye bread 
and cold reindeer meat, which they hastily dis- 
patched, and soon started on the return journey. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



115 



The guide led the way at a rapid pace, and 
the already half-exhausted pedestrians scrambled 
along as best they could, over the snow-banks 
and broken rock, through pools of water from 
the melting snows — the trail sometimes leading 
through deep clefts of the rocks, through which 
they had to squeeze themselves. 

There was one lady in the party, and she 
proved herself equal to the occasion. If the 
gentlemen had feared they would have to pack 
her in, they must have felt relieved when she 
not only took care of herself but was able to 
help do some packing for others. That is the 
sort of woman to go roughing it with. In such 
places no doubt they are very good. 

They reached the boat after twelve hours of 
as hard work as the most enthusiastic traveler 
would desire to endure. It was in the night-time 
too, but then it was night only in name, for night 
and day are all the same up there. But then 
they had seen the midnight sun from North Cape, 
and this but a very small proportion of the 
human race have ever seen or may ever hope 
to see. The wind was adverse, and blowing a 
smart breese, so there was nothing left for them 
but to beat their way back to the fisher's hut, 



116 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



where all the ladies of the party had been left 
except the one referred to. This took four 
hours of pretty wet work, for the little sail-boat 
would often take more water than was comfort- 
able for those within her. 

The wives and mothers who remained at the 
hut looked long and anxiously for the return of 
the party, and long before they could descry the 
little vessel dancing on the top of the waves, 
struggling with the adverse winds, a sickening 
fear came upon them that some sad calamity had 
happened, which alone could cause such unex- 
pected delay. Their anxiety would not have 
been lessened had they known the actual facts. 
Nor was the relief complete when they saw the 
party were returning. Who that has seen a sail- 
boat containing some loved one miles away upon 
the rolling waters, does not remember how the 
heart will sink and almost cease to throb when- 
ever the boat drops quite out of sight between 
the waves, almost sure that she had sunk beneath 
them ; and who can forget the flutter of returning 
joy and hope when it is again seen to rise proudly 
over the swell and hurry on its way ? Four hours 
watching such a boat, with the rapid alternations 
of fear and hope, is a sickening task, and harder 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



117 



on the nerves, at least, and more distressing, than 
the rough journey which the others had endured. 
There was joy in that cabin when the party safely 
landed, though wet, and well worn out, and nearly 
famished. They had been gone eighteen hours, 
and had seen the North Cape, and — some other 
things, too. 

I am indebted to the Rev. Mr. K -, who 

was one of the party, for an account of this 
excursion, which he gave me when we met a few 
days later, and who expressed the opinion that 
we had acted wisely when we stopped at Ham- 
merfest, and his wife and mother emphatically 
concurred .in this opinion. 

Mr. R , of Chicago, was more fortunate. 

He continued in the steamer and went on to 
Vadso. This is a distinguished whaling station, 
where the business is carried on by a wealthy 
company on a large scale. They employ several 
steamers in the service, which are provided with 
the most improved device for killing their prey. 
The most important is a harpoon which is shot 
from a portable gun, which may be carried in 
the bow of the whale-boat, or from the steamer. 
After the harpoon has been shot into the whale, 
either from the steamer or the whale-boat, he is 



118 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



followed as in the old way, or if from the steamer 
with all the steam possible, and when he rises to 
blow an explosive torpedo is fired at him, and 
when one takes effect it kills him at once. 

When the fish is killed it is taken in tow by 
the steamer and brought into port, where with 
the aid of powerful tackle it is hauled upon ways, 
and the blubber is peeled off and tried out, and 
every part of the animal which can be utilized is 
saved and prepared for the market. Two were 
on the ways and being cut up when he was 
there. Up to the first of July the catch had 
already amounted to twenty-eight this season, 
and I heard afterwards from a gentleman who 
had left there a month later that a dozen more 
had been added to the number. The steamers 
cruise out a hundred miles or more in pursuit 
of their game. 

This business was first started by an enter- 
prising Norwegian by the name of Sven Toyen, 

who had made a fortune in catching seals on the 

<_> 

island of Yan May en. When he first proposed 
to catch whales by steam he was as much ridi- 
culed by the whaleman as Fulton was when he 
proposed to propel a boat by steam ; but his 
resources proved equal to the undertaking^ and 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



119 



he now has probably the most successful whale 
fishery in the world. The first steamer which 
he used in this novel service was called the 
" Spes and Fides." 

Those who made the round trip on the Hakon- 
Jarl were more fortunate than those who stopped 
at the fisherman's hut. When North Cape was 
reached, the wind had died away and the sea had 
gone down, so that a landing was practicable. 
The captain ran the steamer in as near as was 
prudent to the only point where a landing can 
be made, and an ascent possible. He lowered 
away the boat, and took such on shore as chose 
to undertake the feat, and led the way himself up 
the steep ascent. Some gave out on the way, but 
five gained the summit in time to see the sun at 
midnight from the same point occupied by the 
other party the night before. They were just 
forty-five minutes climbing the nine hundred feet. 
No serious difficulties were met with ; it was simply 
a question of muscle and endurance. Beside being 
very steep, the foothold was bad, so that one had 
to Tairly cling to the side of the ascent, and a 
misstep was liable to start him rolling to the 
beach below. As the position of the ship was 
not considered a very safe one in case of a sud- 



120 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



den change of weather, which was liable to occur 
in that latitude, the stay on the cape was not un- 
necessarily protracted. But indeed no great time 
was wanted, for however grand the view, the 
whole could be comprehended in a glance. 

It is not often that the weather is such as to 
safely admit the landing to be made ; yet when- 
ever it is practicable, I understand it is usual to 
make this landing if there are passengers on 
board who desire to make the ascent. But if 
one must ascend the cape the only thing for him 
to do is to stop at the fisherman's hut, and obtain 
his aid to accomplish the journey. This, too, will 
introduce him to a plainer way of living than 
even he will find in towns along his route, and 
this is necessary if one would understand every 
phase of life in the country which the traveler 
visits. 

We dined on the steamer before going on 
shore at Hammerfest. After dinner, we bade our 
friends good-by, and got into a little boat and 
pulled to shore, which was not two hundred feet 
from the dock. Just across the street from the 
dock we found our hotel, to which we had sent a 
telegram for rooms. I believe it is the only hotel 
in Hammerfest, and cannot be charged with mak- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



121 



ing great pretensions. We found two rooms 
ready for us, with two little beds in each ; or 
rather, in the one we occupied there was one of 
the coffin-like beds, and a sofa on which a bed 
was made up when we wanted to go to sleep. But 
all was reasonably clean, and the landlady was 
as kind as she possibly could be. 

The key to our room, which opened into the 
lower hall, and very near the front door, was 
lost. But what mattered that in a country where 
robbers and burglars are unknown ? Still, fresh 
as we were from countries not so blessed, we 
thought we should feel safer with the door locked. 
Besides, servants up there have a knack of bolt- 
ing into your room at all times and at all hours 
without knocking, and if they happen to find you 
in dishabille, they reason, perhaps correctly, that 
from necessity everybody must be in that condi- 
tion at least as often as once in twenty-four 
hours, and what matters it who sees them, so 
long as the fact is well known and perfectly 
understood by everybody? After all it is noth- 
ing to be ashamed of, anyway. Then what 
is the matter, and why so much concealment, 
which at best is nothing but sheer affectation. 
Now we had nothing to answer to all this rea- 



122 



A SUMMER IN XORWAl 



soning, "which was not said but only acted, except 
our simple fastidious prejudices. We lacked the 
innocent simplicity which would have enabled us 
to consider the subject in its true light, so we 
had a search instituted lor the key, and when it 
could not be found, I contrived to barricade the 
door, when we concluded to try and go to sleep, 
so that an entrance could not be effected without 
a noise at least. 

Hammerfest being- the most northern town in 
the world, has for that reason acquired considera- 
ble celebrity. The reason why this is so is that 
it is the warmest portion of the globe in so high 
a latitude. It is hard for one who has walked 
across the East river from New York to Brook- 
lyn on the ice, to believe that at a point nearly 
thirty degrees farther north, and more than four 
degrees within the Arctic Circle, ice never forms 
within tide water, except quite at the head of 
some of the fjords. All else of the bays and 
sounds, and wherever the waters of the sea reach, 
is as clear of ice as if in Florida, even through 
the long winter night of eleven weeks, during 
which the sun never rises above the horizon. 
Back in the interior, and beyond the influence 
of the sea atmosphere, it is no doubt cold enough 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



123 



to please an Esquimau. Heavy snows fall at 
Hammerfest, and on 'all the islands along the 
coast, and are abundant to the very edge of the 
open water, and there they lay for a long time, 
but they cannot invade the waters themselves. 
Hence navigation is practicable the whole year, 
and the steamers on which we traveled make 
their trips to Hammerfest in winter as well as 
in summer ; and the steamers from Christiana 
to Tromso, on which we also traveled, continue 
their trips throughout the winter, never seeing 
any ice in the North Sea, while they are some- 
times embarrassed with ice at Christiana, though 
few places on the globe in so high a latitude 
have so mild a climate as the latter place. Of 
course wherever this warm sea reaches it must 
greatly raise the temperature of the atmosphere, 
and so ameliorate the climate ; and finally we be- 
come surprised that its influence extends only so 
short a distance inland. To this, however, we 
must soon become reconciled, when we remember 
the severity of the cold in other longitudes in the 
same latitude. 

N or is Hammerfest the limit of the open 
sea in the coldest winter alone the Norwegian 
coast. It extends clear around the North Cape 



124 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



and into the great Arctic Sea beyond. The 
reason of this has been obvious ever since the 
gulf stream was discovered and its track traced 
across the ocean. Issuing with its tropical waters 
from the Gulf of Mexico, with a current of four 
miles an hour and more, forty miles wide and 
four hundred feet deep, it plows its way through 
the Atlantic with a resistless force in a northeast 
direction, widening as it goes, sweeping by the 
north capes of Ireland and Scotland, washing 
the shores of the Hebrides ; ever spreading out, 
where not prevented by the land it meets, it 
sweeps across the North Sea and impinges upon 
all the northwest coast of Norway, by which it 
is deflected still more northerly, and finally loses 
itself in the Northern Ocean, beyond the North 
Cape. Of course it loses much of its tempera- 
ture before it reaches Norway ; but the wonder 
is that the cold currents, setting down through 
Baffin's Bay and the Northern Ocean, east of 
Greenland and Iceland, have not entirely de- 
stroyed its identity and reduced it to the tem- 
perature of their own cold waters. That they 
have not, serves to tell us what a mighty force 
is ever there at work, and yet never expends 
itself or grows weaker as time rolls on. 



CHAPTER X. 



Hammerfest; its commerce and oil factories; cod-fishing; 
the sei ; the fishermen; religion and education; hos- 
TILITY to Catholics; confirmation and suffrage; gen- 
eral EDUCATION ; THE LAPPS ; HISTORY AND LANGUAGE ; 
NOMADIC OR MOUNTAIN LAPPS ; SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS; FAMILY 

relations, dress, physical qualities; an insane bride- 
groom; domestic virtues; lapp women; use of tobacco; 
coast Lapps; religious character; fanatical crusade; 
superstitious charms. 

HAMMERFEST is a town of about two 
thousand people, and is situated at the 
head of a large land-locked bay and is sur- 
rounded by high mountains. Immediately be- 
hind it the face of the mountain is nearly ver- 
tical. For a third of a mile the foot of the 
mountain is so near the shores of the bay that 
there is only room for a single street. At the 
north end of that a valley opens, through which 
a considerable creek comes rushing down. This 
valley widens out farther back, presenting a very 
pretty country beyond. At the south also the 
shore of the bay sweeps around in a graceful 
curve, leaving a broader belt between it and the 

foot of the mountain, and upon that the princi- 

(125) 



\ 



126 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



pal part of the town is situated, where sufficient 
space is found for several streets. 

On the water are good wharves and docks 
and storehouses, and on the streets back are the 
shops and dwellings, some of which are fine and 
comfortable. Its commerce is very considerable. 
There were seventeen sea-going vessels in port 
when we arrived. Of course the fisheries are 
the principal source of this commerce. 

The place is most distinguished for its cod- 
liver oil manufactories, which are very numerous, 
and do a largfe business. From these a sickening- 
odor pervades the atmosphere, which is very of- 
fensive to the stranger upon his first arrival, but 
after a few days he becomes accustomed to it, 
and finally ceases to notice it. W e visited several 
of the factories and examined the process of mak- 
ing the oil. These establishments do not confine 
themselves to the cod-liver as a source of their 
product, but work up any product of the sea which 
will produce oil, including a variety of fish and 
seals. The raw material is first put into large 
tanks, where it stands for some time undisturbed. 
While here, a portion of the oil separates from the 
tissues, and rises to the top. This is the purest 
and best, and is carefully removed and kept by 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



127 



itself, and of course brings the highest price in 
the market. When no more pure and limpid oil 
will rise to the top, the residuum is removed from 
the tank to large kettles set in arches, where it is 
thoroughly tried, and then the remaining oil is 
expressed from it. This is of an inferior quality, 
and eoes into the market as such. It is from 
this trying process that the odor arises that is 
so unpleasant to the stranger. It is stronger and 
more offensive than the odors arising from the 
stagnant tanks. The residuum from these trying 
houses, as well as the heads and backbones of 
the fish which are cleaned, are thoroughly dried, 
and sold to be ground up for manure. In clean- 
ing the fish, the head and gills and backbone 
are all removed together. These are strung to- 
gether on twine, and then hung on poles and 
dried as thoroughly as possible, when they are 
packed in bales and are ready for export. 

During February and March the codfish are 
in the finest condition, and are most abundant. 
At that time, also, they take the hook the most 
freely; hence, this is considered the codfish sea- 
son. Still they are taken at other seasons, and 
are very excellent. 

During the time we were there the set were 



128 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



the most abundant, and were the principal object 
of pursuit. They are nearly as large and much 
resemble the cod. These are not salted at all. 
They are cleaned, and split quite down to near 
the tail, and are then hung on long poles sup- 
ported on high tressels, close along the beach, or 
at the edge of the water at high-tide, where they 
become very dry — indeed so dry that there 
seems to be scarcely more than skin left. They 
are then packed in bales and sent to market. 
These are principally in request in Sweden and 
other countries bordering on the Baltic ; but I 
have seen them in the Chicago market since my 
return. These I learned were ordered from Ber- 
gen ; as also the Lofoden cod, which are also 
found in our market. 

Although there are more independent fisher- 
men in Finmark, proportionately, than in the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, still a large proportion are in 
the employ of capitalists, who furnish them boats 
and tackle, and pay them fixed wages, or so much 
per hundred for the fish caught. Indeed, it is 
the exception where the fisherman cures and 
markets his own fish. In this, as in all other 
business, capital divides the profits with labor. 

Of course fish are the principal article of diet, 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



129 



as meats are in our agricultural region. In the 
larger towns the fish markets are the great dis- 
play. I was much interested in an early visit to 
the market in Trondhjem, and was astonished at 
the variety of fish there exhibited. Some most 
repulsive-looking specimens were taken as de- 
licious by customers who, no doubt, knew what 
they liked. 

There were an unusual number of Lapps in 
Hammerfest while we were there, who had come 
in from the mountains for confirmation. The 
State religion is Lutheran, and it is sustained 
by law with some rigor, and is very universally 
professed among the people. All other denomi- 
nations are called sects, and are looked upon with 
disfavor, and the Catholics most of all. The 
Catholics evidently have a hard time of it in 
Norway. Although the law does not prohibit 
that or any other form of Christian worship, yet 
the prejudice against the Catholics is very great 
among the people, who are loth to believe any 
good of them. There is a Catholic church at 
Tromso, and one of the public-houses is kept 
by a Catholic lady. Everybody advised us not 
to go to that house, as we should surely fare 
very badly, and we considered ourselves very 

9 



130 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



fortunate in having secured rooms at the other 
hotel beforehand, and blessed the telegraph which 
enabled us to do so. Several of the other pas- 
sengers who landed from the same boat were 
obliged to go to the Catholic house, though they 
did it with great reluctance. Among them was 
a Presbyterian clergyman from Massachusetts, 
with his family. When we met and compared 
notes, it was manifest that they had the best of 
it altogether. They had the best rooms, the best 
service, the best beds, and decidedly the best 
table, and he declared there was no sort of doubt 
that the universal cry against that house origi- 
nated in the inveterate, prejudice which was felt 
against the religion of the lady who kept it, who 
was really modest, unassuming, attentive and 
obliging, and spared no effort which could con- 
tribute to the comfort of her guests. His favor- 
able report certainly did not arise from a con- 
cordance of religious sentiments. Yet there is no 
doubt that the people who advised us to avoid 
that house really believed there was something 
terrible about it which would render us very 
uncomfortable. True they probably knew nothing 
about it, and perhaps not one of them had ever 
been in it, but they accepted the universal defama- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



131 



tion as undoubted truth, and so gave their advice 
from a real conviction. 

There are few other sects in Norway, but I 
did not chance to meet with any of their followers, 
and so I learned but little of them. 

Many important civil rights are dependent on 
confirmation, as I was informed, and especially 
the right of suffrage ; hence it is a matter of great 
importance to the citizen to be thus received 
into the bosom of the church. The claim to this 
rite is no doubt more dependent upon the educa- 
tion of the candidate than upon the fervor of 
his piety. 

The law prohibits the confirmation of any 
who cannot read and write, and who have not 
been instructed to a certain extent in the tenets 
of the Lutheran church. This constitutes a 
rigorous system of universal education, not only 
among the Norwegians, but among the Lapps 
as well. Hence it is that teachers are sent to 
all their camps, even among the distant mount- 
ains, to impart to them the required instruction 
to qualify them for the important ceremony; and 
the result is, as I was credibly informed, that all 
can read and write, and very many have a very 
good common education. When I asked one to 



132 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



give me his name, which I wished to enter in 
my note-book, he took the pencil and entered it 
in a good, bold hand. 

To me at least the Lapps are by far the most 
interesting race of people in Europe, and I longed 
to see with my own eyes what sort of people they 
were ; and the strongest inducement I could have 
had to spend a much longer time in Finmark 
was the study of this interesting people in their 
remote mountain homes, where I might hope to 
see a nearer approach to the ancient habits, cus- 
toms, and superstitions than is possible on the 
sea-coast, where a closer contact with the Gothic 
race must have modernized these to a certain 
extent. 

While the ancestors of the Lapps once occupied 
all northern Europe and Asia within the polar 
circle, and far south of it, even to the latitude 
of Berlin, and ethnologists assure us, with the 
greatest confidence, that they established them- 
selves in Hungary, and constituted the original 
stock whence sprung the present Magyars ; the 
Lapland of the present day is confined between 
very narrow limits, having the Arctic Ocean on 
the north, the White Sea on the east, an irregular 
line on the south, the latitude of the gulf of Fin- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



133 



land being its most southerly point, and the 
Atlantic Ocean on the west. This Lapland is 
divided into Norwegian Lapland, Swedish Lap- 
land, and Russian Lapland, according to the juris- 
dictions in which the different parts are situate. 

The great antiquity of this people seems to 
be conceded on all hands ; and so also that they 
are descended from the same orieinal stock as 
the Finns. Indeed the difference between them 
now is not very striking, and the evidence of 
relationship is abundant. 

When this ancient people first occupied that 
northern country, or by what name they were 
formerly designated, or whence they came, no 
one can pretend to know. Antiquaries find 
evidence that they were preceded by a race who 
created the age of polished stone, and that they 
introduced into western Europe the age of 
bronze, which testifies to a pretty advanced stage 
of civilization, when they expelled their prede- 
cessors of the stone age ; or possibly they may 
themselves have been of the stone a^e, and so 
advanced in civilization as to attain the art which 
characterizes the bronze aee. 

Authors disagree, as we might well expect 
where the evidence is so slight and uncertain, as 



134 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



to the extent of the territory which they origi- 
nally occupied, some confining them to the Volga 
and the Dnieper on the south, excepting where 
the break extended them into Hungary ; while 
others give them all north of the Danube, and 
assign to them the whole of Germany and France. 
Ethnologists have invented for this ancient people 
a name, which of course is a new name, of which 
the ancients never heard ; but as they must have 
a name for the purpose of designation, no doubt 
the selection has been made for good reasons. 
They call them Ugrians. This embraces many 
families, some of which reach nearly to Behring's 
Strait on the east, and probably they might, 
without great effort, bring our Esquimaux into 
the same great division of the human family. By 
what name they should be called, or whether 
they preceded the age of bronze or not, I do not 
now propose to discuss; but I have said this 
much merely to show that it is conceded on all 
hands that they are by far the oldest people of 
Europe. They alone have been able to outlive 
the heavy tread of the hardy hoards which swept 
from northern Europe all the others of the 
ancient peoples ; and finally, after how many 
centuries we know not, crossed the Alps, and 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



135 



spread terror through the higher but degenerate 
civilization of Rome. 

We most readily accept the conclusion that the 
Lapps and Finns are descended from the same 
stock. In many respects they strongly resemble 
each other, though the latter may be more ad- 
vanced in agriculture and many of the arts of 
civilization. Finmark — or the march or territory, 
as it seems here to mean, of the Fins — shows 
that Fin was a common name, and embraced 
the Lapps as well. This relationship between the 
Lapps and Finns is recognized in another way. 
The Lapps-differ from all other aboriginal peoples 
in the fact that they refuse to intermarry with 
other stocks of the race, but through all the cen- 
turies in which they have been in close contact 
with the Gothic races, they have kept the blood 
pure and uncontaminated. This could hardly be 
done as a mere matter of principle or pride, and 
could only result from inclination. But this aver- 
sion to other peoples does not extend to the 
Finns, for with these they freely intermarry, and 
think it no degradation. 

The language of the Lapps is very distinct, and 
but few Norwegians understand it. It differs 
even from that of the Finns, but philologists have 



136 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



no difficulty in tracing their similitudes, and give 
them a common origin. 

In quite recent times, the Lapp language has 
become a written language, with its own alpha- 
bet and grammar, the two -most approved of 
which are by Stockfleth and Rask. Their alpha- 
bet is formed upon the phonetic principle, each 
letter representing a simple sound, which enables 
the beginner to learn to read much more readily 
than with our own barbarous and unphilosophical 
orthography. 

Since the boon of a written language and 
printed books has been conferred upon the Lapps 
there has been a commendable progress in their 
education, and this is much stimulated by the 
governmental system, which makes the right of 
suffrage and other important civil rights depend- 
ent upon a certain amount of education. This 
the government places within their reach by 
sending the schoolmaster among them, who visits 
their towns and settlements far back in the 
mountains. 

The mountain Lapp is still a nomad, partly 
from habit and choice, and partly from necessity. 
His herds consist of the reindeer, and they are, 
to an extent, migratory, as will be hereafter 



PERPETUAL BAY. 



137 



noticed, when we come to treat of that animal ; 
and so he must from necessity follow his wealth 
in its migrations from the mountains to the coast 
and back. 

If Lapp be a proper designation, it is a mod- 
ern one. Their own native name is Sabme, and, 
as before intimated, they were formerly called 
Finns by the Norwegians; hence Finmark for the 
country which they occupy. Lap is properly a 
Swedish term, and so is Swedish Lapland called 
Lapmark. As here used," the word mark, or 
march, seems to mean something more than the 
borders of a country, as in England and Scot- 
land ; but it embraces the country itself occupied 
by a distinct people, although it occupies the ex- 
tremity or border of the kingdom. 

They have no tribal organizations, and affect 
no independent form of government, like our 
Indians. The patriarchal influence is quite pro- 
nounced. While individuals do not acquire titles 
to the land they occupy, in general they confine 
their range within certain limits more or less 
broad, and their preferred right to their camping 
grounds is respected, while they are not jealous 
of those who wander into the territories thus 
occupied. 



138 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



There are distinctions of rank among them, 
arising largely from considerations of wealth. 
Their wealth consists almost exclusively of rein- 
deer, which are bought and sold, inherited and 
given as marriage portions. Some of the most 
wealthy have many thousand reindeer, and have 
hired servants to tend them. But their aristocracy 
is of the primitive kind, and does not depart from 
the simple habits and mode of life of their 
ancestors. 

The rich man lives in the same smoky and 
filthy hut as the poor, only it is larger, because 
it must be so to accommodate his larger family;, 
for his servants or herders are strictly members 
of his family, and live on an apparent equality 
with himself. The great kettle is hung over the 
fire in the middle of the hut and filled with the 
flesh of the reindeer, and, when it is boiled, all 
go up and help themselves alike, with fingers or 
sticks, or with forks and spoons made of the bones 
or antlers of the deer, or their sheath knives, 
which always hang at the hip of young and old. 
All sleep together in the hut on the pallets of 
deer-skins wherever they can find room. 

The most wealthy, as well as the poorest, dress 
in the deer-skin trousers and coat which comes 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



139 



nearly to the knees and are girded by a broad 
belt about the waist. These skins are tanned and 
made into garments in each household. All that 
I saw were tanned with the hair on, and were 
made up with the hair inside. I saw some little 
chaps — I know not whether girls or boys — not 
more than two or three years old, toddling about 
the streets in full deer-skin suits. Their shoes 
are a kind of moccasin, made from the skin taken 
from the leors of the deer where the hair is short 
and firm, and much more durable than from other 
parts of the deer. They are constructed with 
the hair outward. They come up around the 
ankles, have a seam under the hollow of the foot, 
forward of which the hairs have a backward set, 
and behind which the hairs have a forward set, 
which prevents slipping. They differ from the 
Indian moccasin in having a regular sole, which, 
however, is but one thickness of skin. They are 
often ornamented with red and tinsel. These 
are made largely for sale, of various qualities 
and prices. The little store at Bosekop, where 
I got a pair, had many bushels of them. An 
ornamented pair costs a dollar. The Lapps wear 
them considerably larger than the feet, so they 
can wrap the feet in a good coating of dried 



140 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



grass, which is placed in most of them. Nearly 
all the Lapps wear caps of a uniform style, mostly 
made of cloth, so far as I saw, but some of skins. 
They consist of a heavy, broad band around the 
forehead, surmounted with a large square crown 
with sharp points or angles, to some of which 
small tassels were attached. They varied much 
in quality and ornamentation. 

The Lapps are a race of small, hardy men and 
women. They are stocky or stout in proportion 
to their height, which is several inches below the 
standard of the Norwegians among whom they 
live. They have, in general, broad faces, short 
chins, and high cheek bones, dark complexions, 
brown hair, some light and some dark eyes, but 
I do not remember that I saw one with black 
eyes. They look more like a smoked white man 
than like men naturally tawny, and I am not sure 
but they owe their dark complexions to smoke 
and mountain soil. 

Some of them have a wonderfully pleasing and 
winning expression of countenance. The first 
Lapp we saw was on the steamer after we left 
Trondhjem, and I thought I never saw a more 
agreeable expression on a human face. Perhaps 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



141 



this was heightened by the circumstances of his 
position. 

He was a wealthy young man, perhaps twenty- 
four years old. Three months before, he was 
married to a young lady Lapp, to whom he was 
devotedly attached, of a wealthy neighboring 
family. The wedding was a great occasion, and 
there were hieh festivities in their mountain home, 
though there were no newspaper reporters there 
to describe the table, the presents, the dresses of 
the ladies or the costume of the bride, or in any 
other way to honor or to annoy them ; had there 
been, we might explain what followed. The fes- 
tivities went on without interruption or mishap, 
till suddenly the bridegroom was found to be a 
raving maniac of the violent type. Rejoicing, of 
course, was turned to grief. There was nothing 
to be done but to bind him and take him from 
his weeping bride and place him in an insane 
asylum, probably at Ganstad, where, I understand, 
is the only one in Norway. When we met him 
on the steamer, he had just been discharged cured, 
and was hastening home to enjoy the bliss of 
wedded life. 

Of course his story was soon told among the 
passengers, and he became an object of general 



142 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



solicitude and sympathy. All agreed that he 
looked happier each hour as it brought him 
nearer his home and those he loved, who were 
as anxiously waiting his coming. When he left 
us at Tromso, and procured a boat to take him 
on his way, it is not probable that he stopped 
to fish or play, but more likely that he pulled 
the oar, as a lusty young man about to commence 
his honeymoon should do. For four days he had 
been our fellow-passenger and the object of our 
sympathy, and it is not strange then that we 
watched him anxiously so long as his form was 
visible, and followed him in imagination to the 
Lapp encampment among the far-off mountains, 
and pictured to ourselves the joy of father and 
mother, and, above all, of the bride from whom 
he had been torn in the very hour of their 
nuptials. 

Lapps can love as well as others, and perhaps 
better too, and certainly more faithfully, for con- 
jugal infidelity is hardly ever known, and the 
standard of virtue is so far above that of any 
other people of whom I have any account, that 
no comparison can be instituted without doing 
them injustice. Such fidelity must surely be 
rewarded with domestic happiness of the highest 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



143 



order, and we may well picture to ourselves the 
joys of love in a camp as well as in a cottage 
or a mansion. 

I saw similar pleasing expressions of counte- 
nance on many others, though on none other to so 
great an extent, and some were quite the reverse, 
though I saw none who looked wicked, vicious and 
repulsive. 

The women are generally very plain, and I saw 
none which might be called handsome. You may 
endure a man if he is not the pink of neatness, 
or even cleanliness, but a dirty woman — well, 
it is rarely indeed that you can say she is charm- 
ing, and so I saw no charming lady Lapps. 

The Norwegians, as well as the Lapps, use 
tobacco very freely ; indeed they are absolutely 
prodigal of it. Both chew it most extravagantly, 
and smoke it as well. I have met with no other 
people that I thought could beat my own coun- 
trymen as chewers of tobacco, or even equal 
them. The Lapp and his pipe seem as insepara- 
ble as the Arab and his horse ; and the Nor- 
wegian, too, is scarcely behind the Lapp in the 
love of his pipe. Among them I saw none use 
snuff. Perhaps the ladies of Lapland do so on 
the sly, as it is said they sometimes do in other 



144 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



countries, but I do not believe they do, for I 
doubt not they would be quite indifferent as to 
who saw them, if they desired thus to indulge in 
the use of the soothing herb. I have met some 
Norwegians who never use tobacco, but they are 
fewer than in this country. 

But all the Lapps do not live in the mountains 
and eat reindeer flesh. Those who have lost their 
reindeer by some mischance, or who never had 
any, are forced to come down to the coast and 
become fishermen for a living. And this in the 
course of time has established two classes — the 
mountain Lapps and the maritime Lapps. The 
former are generally well off and often wealthy ; 
the latter are always poor. These become as 
expert boatmen and as expert fishermen as the 
Norwegians, but I heard of no instance where 
one, by the force of superior talent or business 
capacity, had risen above his fellows and become 
wealthy by employing and directing the services 
of others ; they seem incapable of rising to a 
higher level when driven to the pursuits of other 
races. 

It does not, however, follow that there are not 
degrees of capacity among the Lapps, as among 
other races of men, but rather we should conclude 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



145 



that those whose talents would raise them to 
wealth and distinction among the maritime Lapps 
have the capacity to acquire wealth and distinc- 
tion among the mountains, and prefer the mount- 
ain life, and acquire reindeer rather than the kind 
of wealth which others more highly prize. Like 
our own aborigines, they prefer the wild life of 
the forest and the mountain, and their deep shades 
and crags and glens, rather than that artificial life 
of a higher civilization. 

To a certain extent they may be considered a 
religious people, like the civilized African in this 
country, and like him they sometimes develop 
this sentiment in a frenzied zeal which amounts 
to a mania. 

In 1854 some of their religious teachers found 
some passage in the Scriptures which they con- 
strued to enjoin as a religious duty the killing 
of a thousand or some other large number of 
men, which alone could insure eternal salvation. 
It did not much matter who the victims were, 
so as they should be sure and kill enough. Under 
the influence of this religious frenzy they preached 
a crusade, and of course found followers, first 
from zeal and conviction, and then from fear and 
compulsion, till they collected a great body of 

ro 



146 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



men ; women and children, and rushed to the 
coast like an avalanche. They first fell upon 
Bosekop, where they killed several, and among 
others a prominent merchant and a woman named 
Ruth Kantima. Long before they had sacrificed 
the requisite number they were arrested in their 
mad career, the ringleaders apprehended, and the 
multitude were driven back to the mountains. 
Some twenty or thirty were tried for their offenses 
and convicted, three were decapitated, and the 
rest suffered imprisonment for various terms. My 
informant, a Norwegian of intelligence and cult- 
ure, himself witnessed the capital executions. 

While this shows a high susceptibility among 
the Lapps to religious impressions, it also shows 
a want of balance, examples of which may be 
found among all peoples and in every age, though 
much less frequent now than in former times, 
with the advancement of thought and knowledge 
and civilization, we may hope that these erratic 
outbreaks will continue to be less frequent. 

Even yet the Norwegian peasantry, as well as 
the Lapps, are prone to superstitions, and have 
implicit faith in charms and amulets. These are 
nearly all derived from wild animals of the coun- 
try. A drink of the warm blood, or a dose of 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



147 



pulverized bones, or of the antlers of the deer, 
strings of the claws or teeth of certain animals 
worn around the neck, are believed to be wonder- 
ful remedial agencies for certain diseases, or to 
have most potent effects to ward off diseases or 
dangers, and we may understand that a poultice 
of the finely-chopped flesh of animals may in 
many cases be a very good application, without 
attributing to it any supernatural virtues. A 
string of the claws of the glutton is believed to 
be an effectual remedy for vertigo or flightiness, 
and the oil of the same animal is used effectually 
for the cure of cutaneous diseases. To drink the 
warm blood of certain animals is supposed to 
give strength and courage. 



CHAPTER XI. 



First sight of reindeer; garden housetops, their construc- 
tion; BUILDINGS IN HAMMERFEST AND OTHER TOWNS; FUEL; 
WINTERING OF CATTLE AND HORSES; COWS; DAIRY FARMS; FOOD 
FOR STOCK; SHEEP, GOATS, HOGS, FOWLS, AND LAPLAND DOGS; 
MAILS AND TELEGRAPHS; COURTESY OF PEOPLE AND OFFICIALS; 
TEMPERATURE AND LIGHT IN WINTER; WINTER AMUSEMENTS; 
LOVE OF HOME AND COUNTRY; FISHING AT MIDNIGHT; THE 
MIDNIGHT SUN AGAIN. 



HE morning after our arrival in Hammerfest 



X I commenced an exploration of the town 
and its environs. I first walked the street to the 
west, and crossed the bridge which spans the 
raging little stream which there debouches into 
the bay, and so around the shore at the foot of 
the mountain which bounds the bay on the west. 

High up the mountain side several moving 
objects attracted my attention. I scrutinized 
them through my glass, and then saw my first 
reindeer. They were too far away to satisfy my 
curiosity, and so I returned and walked up the 
valley. The road led me across a bank of snow 
a quarter of a mile in width. Far up the mount- 
ain side I saw another small herd of deer, which 

(149) 




150 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



seemed to be making their way down, and I 
watched them through the glass for half an hour. 
Some were white and some brown, but scarcely 
any two of the same shade of color. Their ant- 
lers were in the velvet, and seemed to be half 
grown. The antlers of the does seemed to have 
made relatively about the same advance as the 
bucks, but were scarcely more than one fourth 
the size. When they got within three hundred 
yards they took alarm, probably from winding 
me, and dashed away into the valley below, and 
next appeared half a mile distant. I confessed a 
surprise that domesticated animals, the probable 
descendants of those who had been in domesti- 
cation for many centuries, should be so wild, 
while they are herded and yarded, and driven 
from place to place, like sheep, in my own 
country. Subsequent observations and informa- 
tion explained this phenomenon. 

The domesticated reindeer retain the discrim- 
inating sense of smell, scarcely impaired, from the 
wild state. Like all the others of the deer family, 
their powers of vision are obtuse and uncertain, 
while this is compensated in a remarkable degree 
by the sense of smell. The odor from the Lapp 
is peculiar, and differs widely from another race, 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



151 



and so does the odor of one individual differ from 
that of another. They become familiar with that 
of the herder and all those with whom they come 
in constant contact, and so take no notice of them, 
while that of a stranger alarms them, and they 
make off almost with the timidity of the wild 
deer. 

We have observed that the fishermen's huts, 
and even buildings of considerable pretensions, 
are covered with earth, on which was growing a 
o^ood coat • of vegetation. The roofs are first 
covered with strips or sheets of bark from the 
white birch. • This bark is an article of commerce. 
It is gathered in the back country, and packed 
down to the coast in bales or bundles of about 
one hundred and fifty pounds each, as I should 
judge from those I saw at the landings. It 
appears to be precisely the same as that used by 
our Indians in the construction of their bark 
canoes, and I am surprised it has not been used 
in Lapland for the same purpose. 

After the roof has been well covered with this 
bark, it is then covered with about eight inches 
of earth, supported at the eves by a flange or 
upright board of the proper width. On this the 
vegetation grows. I was surprised that this did 



152 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



not die out with the drouth, in an atmosphere 
where fish without salt will in six weeks' time 
dry to a mere scrap, and become almost as hard 
as horn, and where the meat will be scarcely 
thicker than the skin. During all this time there 
are frequent showers, but they are usually of short 
duration, and do not saturate the drying fish ; 
but the moisture left on the surface is soon 
dispelled by the sun, in that cool and pure atmos- 
phere, leaving no taint or even stain behind. 
These showers moisten the earth on the house- 
tops, and keep the vegetation in vigorous life. 

On one of the houses in Hammerfest, on the 
main street of the town, an exceedingly small 
white kid had taken up his abode, and was always 
seen whenever we passed the house, sometimes 
cropping the grass and weeds, sometimes gambol- 
ing and frisking about in the happiest imaginable 
mood, as if he had no fears of falling to the 
ground, and sometimes sleeping in the bright 
sunshine. 

All along the coast, in the little hamlets, and 
in the larger towns, the buildings are of wood, 
built not of boards and joists, but like a block 
house. Poles or small logs are hewn down to 
a thickness of four or six inches. The edges 



PERPETUAL DAY, 



153 



are then flattened, and all brought to a width, 
and with these the walls of the house are built 
up, the corners being dovetailed together. The 
partitions are often of the same material. Some- 
times these sticks are dressed with a plane with 
great nicety, and at others are rough hewn, 
depending on the pretensions of the structure. 
In all cases the seams between the logs are 
calked with moss. The finest finished wooden 
houses in the towns all have their walls built up 
in this way, though they are covered inside and 
out with a finish, so as to entirely hide the walls 
proper. No plan can be conceived to make a 
warmer house than this, which explains the reason 
of its adoption in so cold a country as Norway. 
These houses are nearly always painted. Among 
the peasantry and fishermen red is the prevailing 
color, though I saw some of yellow. In the 
towns and cities both white and red are ob- 
served. 

The fuel for domestic use is wood, white birch 
or fir, which has to be brought down from the 
mountains in the interior in the high latitudes, 
and so is rather expensive ; but they economize 
it much by making their dwellings as warm as 
possible. 



154 



A SUMMER IN IVOR WAY. 



Even at this extremely northern point horses 
and cattle are kept, but both are very small and 
appear to be very hardy, and I have no doubt 
are so. I should have said ponies rather than 
horses. I saw none under the saddle, though I 
understood they are frequently ridden. A num- 
ber were at work in little rickety carts, hauling 
stone, earth and goods about the town. They 
were rough-looking brutes, and appeared as if 
they could live on pine shavings. 

The cows are more peculiar, and I may say 
deformed, in their structure than the ponies. I 
met a herd of eleven one day coming in from 
the mountains, and they afforded me a fine study. 
Six of the lot were pollards, or entirely destitute 
of horns. They were very small with large necks, 
and legs so short that their bellies came nearly 
to the ground, and were of various colors. Udders 
of good size in proportion to their bodies. They 
seemed to be very gentle. I heard of several 
dairy farmers within the Arctic Circle, but they 
live at the heads of the fjords and in the lower 
valleys, and drive their cattle back into the 
mountains in summer, where they have regular 
dairy establishments. In winter they all move 
down to the coast. It was a mystery to me how 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



155 



they could get fodder for their stock through 
these long cold winters. I learned that it is 
an object of solicitude with the dairyman. He 
secures all the hay he can on the little patches 
where it grows, but his principal resource is the 
reindeer moss. This is short, of a dull white 
color, and crispy, with very short roots, and is 
very nutritious. It covers all the mountains with 
a very dense coat. This moss the farmers rake 
up by the roots into bunches, when it is allowed 
to stand and cure for a time, then it is carefully 
housed and reserved for winter fodder, for which 
it serves an excellent purpose. The amount of 
cattle food furnished by this moss in Norway is 
absolutely unlimited, when we consider its nutri- 
tive qualities. While it is not universal on the 
mountains it is very prevalent, and the burthen 
is very large. In crossing the Dover-fjeld I saw 
it in abundance. 

An important auxiliary is found in the sea- 
weed, which the absence of ice enables the dairy- 
man to rake up from the bottom of the bays in 
the winter season. As this is likely to freeze 
so soon as it is exposed to the atmosphere, it is 
cooked before it is fed to the stock, which process, 
no doubt, improves its digestible qualities also. 



156 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



This reminded me that I had often seen cattle 
wade out into the shallow waters of the St. John's 
river in Florida, and submerge their heads 
entirely, and then raise them with mouths full of 
seaweed or grass brought up from the bottom. 

Browse, also, is made available for winter food 
for cattle ; but it is not in extensive supply. 
As a last extremity, herring, which are caught in 
very large quantities in all these waters, is used 
as food for cattle, and while they do not take 
to it kindly at first, they do eat it, and without 
injury so far as I could learn. The herrings are 
piled in stacks, where they freeze into solid masses, 
and when wanted for use portions are chopped 
off with an ax, and are cooked, and mixed with 
the sea-grass, when it is treated in the same way, 
so that the animal is mixed with the vegetable 
food when fed to the stock. 

Within the Arctic Circle I saw many flocks of 
sheep. They are of an inferior quality, have 
coarse wool, with a very large proportion of 
black amone them. With wild animals the most 
northern of a given species furnish the finest fur, 
and generally, though not always, white prevails 
more in the North than in the South, while in 
both these respects the reverse seems to be the 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



157 



case with the sheep. We have always been taught 
to look for the finest wool in Spain, where the 
sheep are nearly all white. I compared a flock 
in Tromso and found one third to be black, and 
many of them intensely black. 

Goats are frequent in northern Norway, but 
cannot be said to be abundant. As might be 
expected, they are of inferior size, but their 
ability to live on almost any vegetable, we sup- 
pose recommends them to favor. 

Swine are kept everywhere there, but not ex- 
tensively. They are raised rather as a family in- 
stitution than for profit. Their fondness for fish 
should insure them an abundance of palatable 
food, but it is probably not the kind best adapted 
for fattening purposes. 

Common chickens I observed about the barns 
and yards not half the size of ours, but they 
were well-flavored and very acceptable after hav- 
ing feasted on fish till you think you will never 
want to see another brought upon the table. I 
was disappointed to find so few domestic ducks 
and geese where their favorite element almost 
washes every door-step ; probably they do not 
like the long cold winters. 

Cats and dogs are found wherever human 



158 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



beings are, and of course are represented in 
Norway as in all other places. 

Among the Lapps they have a valuable breed 
of dogs, corresponding to the shepherd's dog in 
countries where sheep are extensively kept. These 
dogs are carefully trained to their work, and are of 
the greatest service in herding and driving the 
reindeer. As they are all brought up together the 
deer know them, and learn to submit to them in a 
very exemplary way. It is said that one of these 
dogs is worth more than several men in the man- 
agement of a herd of deer. They even learn to 
know each individual deer in a large drove, and 
will readily distinguish a stranger which may join 
the herd. These dogs are not fed sumptuously, 
but quite the reverse, although their valuable ser- 
vices and great fidelity should entitle them to a 
good living. I could learn of no case where dogs 
are worked in harness, as is the case with our 
Esquimaux. 

The post and telegraph are established along 
the Norwegian coast to Vardo and Vadso, which 
may be considered the confines of Norwegian 
jurisdiction. For the telegraph many short cables 
must be used to cross the tjords and straits which 
everywhere intercept the route along the coast. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



159 



It is established and maintained by the govern- 
ment, and is managed in a very satisfactory way, 
generally in connection with the post, each depart- 
ment occupying separate rooms, which are adjoin- 
ing. All telegraph operators must undergo an 
examination in writing and speaking Norwegian, 
German, English, and French, though the latter 
is less indispensable, and some of them, I found, 
spoke English very imperfectly. Still we could 
get along and make each other understood. 

The people of Hammerfest maintained the 
well-deserved reputation of the Norwegians for 
hospitality and kindness to strangers. If you ask 
a boy or a man in the streets the way to the tele- 
graph office — that is a word you can make all 
understand — instead of pointing you the way he 
will most likely turn round and lead the way for 
half a mile, if need be, to show you the place 
inquired for, nor will any remonstrance on your 
part dissuade him from the execution of his 
benevolent purpose. 

I cannot omit mentioning the courtesy of the 
chief clerk, or manager, as we would call him. of 
the telegraph office in Hammerfest, who had once 
visited xA.merica, where he had been kindly re- 
ceived. He insisted on devoting every moment 



160 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



of time he could spare from his official duties 
to us. 

In order to see the midnight sun at Hammer- 
fest, it is necessary to row out a mile and a half 
opposite the mouth of the bay, where a clear 
view of the horizon at the surface of the water 
is obtained. This gentleman engaged a fisher- 
man with fishing tackle, and accompanied us 
out, explaining all objects of interest, and un- 
weariedly answered questions in reference to the 
country and the people, their mode of living and 
conducting business, their sports, their merry- 
makings and their pleasures ; how they spend 
their long winter nights, and a thousand other 
things which a traveler desires to learn when he 
visits foreign countries. 

From him and also from many others I learned 
that immediately upon the sea-shore the weather 
is not excessively or even uncomfortably cold ; 
nor is it dark during the winter night, but rather 
as it is with us when the snow is on the ground 
and the moon at her full ; still the light is of a 
different character and appearance. This arises 
from the boreal lights which, during the winter, 
are ever streaming up the northern sky, enabling 
one, even when there is no moon, to distinguish 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



161 



countenances at a short distance. The winter 
nights are made the occasions for joyous gather- 
ings and social meetings, which, with their music 
and dancing and frolics, are looked forward to 
rather with pleasing anticipations than an un- 
pleasant dread. 

In talking with the residents of Hammerfest 
I found them as much attached to their country 
and its peculiarities as are people of other coun- 
tries, and indeed they seemed to think it strange 
that everybody did not prefer Hammerfest as a 
place of residence. Their jolly good winters, 
their long, unbroken day of summer, their pure, 
invigorating atmosphere, their ever-open sea and 
bold, grand mountain scenery — all had charms 
for them which, in their estimation, could no- 
where else be equaled. The love of home is a 
blessed thing, and so is it fortunate that the 
varying tastes of mankind serve to content peo- 
ple in every portion of the habitable globe. If 
all loved the tropics, or all sought the frigid 
zone, all mankind would swarm into a very lim- 
ited space and but a fraction of the present 
human family could find room in which to live. 

We left the wharf in our fishing-boat at 10:30 

P. M., and when out about half-way, stopped at 
1 1 



162 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



what our fishermen considered a favorable place, 
that is, shoal water, not more than from forty to 
sixty feet deep, and the ladies took their first 
lessons in cod-fishing. 

One large hook is attached to the end of the 
line, with no bait but some bright object at- 
tached to it. Two yards above the hook is the 
sinker, of six or eight pounds of lead, attached 
to a short branch line. This is thrown over- 
board and let run out till the sinker strikes the 
bottom ; it is then drawn in a little more than 
the fathom, so that the hook will be just clear 
of the bottom. Then commences the fishing, 
which consists in 'raising the hand holding the 
line as high as possible and then lowering it to 
the gunwale of the boat, and the more vigorous 
this pumping operation the greater the success 
to be expected. I tell the truth when I say 
that the feather-edge of sport soon gets worn 
off when fishing- becomes such work instead of 
play. However, every new bite stimulates the 
neophyte, and to haul in a slapping codfish, that 
makes the water fly over everything and every- 
body is a triumph which makes one quite forget 
the labor, or that wet clothes are not the most 
agreeable and healthy of all things. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



163 



We took a few fish at the first stopping 
place ; but they were pronounced not to be 
biting well, and we pulled away to a more 
favorite shoal, which commanded a view of the 
mouth of the harbor, and was the desired posi- 
tion for the main object of our visit. 

The fish, we thought, were biting well as mid- 
night approached. The sun was still hanging 
in the heavens and very slowly descending to- 
ward the horizon, but passing to the north much 
more rapidly. I held my watch as the minute 
hand slowly passed the dots upon the dial and 
approached the point which should denote the 
close of the present day and mark the begin- 
ning of another. Slower and slower the sun 
seemed to move, until finally he looked as if 
hung in heaven at a stationary point, where he 
appeared to rest before commencing his ascend- 
ing course on a new day's journey. For two 
minutes or more he paused, and I was unable 
to detect any movement in his course. In that 
space the last minute of the day was passed, 
and was finally buried in the tomb of time and 
was mingled with the ages of the past. Slowly 
the sun began to ascend the heavens, and ap- 
parently with accelerated motion, giving his light 



164 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



to cheer the new-born day. He shone just as 
brightly at his lowest point as before or after. 
He gave a sickly light at best, which lacked the 
fervor of the light he gives in lower latitudes. 
He stopped in his descending course when about 
one-sixth the distance from the zenith to the 
horizon remained to reach the water of the 
ocean. 

For a stranger to such scenes to watch that 
supreme moment was full of intense excitement, 
and I scarcely heard the shouts of triumph by 
the ladies, whose ambition was to catch a fish 
at the moment of midnight, and within a minute 
of that moment all three were hauling in their 
lines, and it became a struggle who should land 
the struggling victim first, all shouting in joyous 
exultation at the exciting sport. I was too ab- 
sorbed with the natural phenomenon to enter 
into the spirit of their contest. For the time at 
least the enthusiasm of the sportsman was lost, 
inspired by nature's wondrous works so strangely 
revealed before me. As the sun traveled on his 
journey he gradually lost his unwonted interest, 
and I again thought of the fishing which was 
actively going on around me. 

Soon all were pretty thoroughly wet, and the 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



165 



cool breeze coming in from the north be^an to 
make us all feel chilly, so the lines were taken 
in and we set our faces for home, which we 
reached before one o'clock. 

The score was twenty-one codfish, and the 
fisherman complained that the fish were obstinate 
and would not bite, and he felt he had not given 
us the worth of our money ; but as his charge 
was but one dollar, I confess I was quite satisfied 
with the investment. 

You may suppose it was now time to get to 
bed, and so should we have thought, no doubt, 
had it been dark ; but as it was full daylight all 
the time, and as the people in the hotel were 
still up and active, we ordered some of our fish 
cooked at once, and our friend stayed to dinner 
with us. 

The quicker a fish is cooked after it leaves 
the water the better it is, and as these were 
right fresh and well cooked, and the excursion 
in the cool bracing air upon the water had given 
us good appetites, we enjoyed this midnight 
dinner most charmingly. By three o'clock we 
got to bed, and with the aid of blankets to darken 
the room got a good sound sleep for several 
hours. 



V 



CHAPTER XII 



Trade in Hammerfest ; The Lapp quarter; American consul; 
leave Hammerfest; our northern position; island chan- 
nels; Bosekop, the Lapland Eden; the hotel; an arctic 
bouquet; rapid growth of flowers; peat bogs; church 
architecture; the forests; valley of the Alten river; 
codfish trade; unconsciously aid a truant; an historical 
monument. • 

THE time we spent in Hammerfest was very 
pleasant. But the midnight sun loses its 
novelty and its charm at last, and we even weary 
of perpetual day, and begin to long for night 
and darkness. It does not take long to see the 
sights of Hammerfest. None of us were equal 
to climbing the high mountain back of us, for I 
was still suffering from my hurt received at Bodo, 
and could accomplish none but gentle walks, 
where I could step cautiously and with little 
effort ; so we had to forego the grand view which 
is to be obtained from the top of this mountain, 
which overlooks the ocean at the north, so that 
from that high point you may count the thousand 

lower islands which dot the surface of the sea. 

(167) 



168 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



The walk along: the wharves was often re- 
peated. They swarmed with little boats, which 
seemed to be the homes of whole families of 
Lapps, with all their household goods, always 
some eoinof and others arriving. Vessels from 
the Mediterranean, the Baltic and the White Sea, 
to the number of a score or more, were resting 
quietly at anchor, but scarcely any close to the 
docks. They were taking in fish or discharging 
cargo in a listless, lazy way, which showed they 
were in no hurry to get to sea again. 

The Lapp quarter occupies a very narrow 
street close to the water, and its filthy appear- 
ance and unpleasant odors — not from the oil 
factories — strongly reminded me of the Chinese 
quarter in San Francisco. I confess I was not 
strongly tempted to enter them, but as a matter 
of duty I did go into one, which answered for 
the whole, and satisfied my curiosity. It was 
small and filthy and not sweet smelling, and was 
full of Lapps of all ages and both sexes, ail talk- 
ing and gesticulating or crying, which made one 
suspect he was in pandemonium. Trinkets were 
there for sale made of the antlers of the deer or 
their skins and sinews. I was not in a trading 
mood, and so carried away all my money. In such 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



169 



a place and scene in any other country I might have 
doubted the probability of this, but with all their 
loud talking and demonstrations one need have 

o 

no fear of violence among them. Their integrity 
is well established, and they are not given to 
violence. Crime is very rare among them. Prob- 
ably in no part of the world is less violence to 
be feared than in Finmark, where statistics show 
that crime is of rare occurrence. 

I paid my respects to the gentleman to whom 
I was referred as the American Consul, whose 
official duties are far from onerous — indeed they 
may be said to be nominal — who accepts the 
title for the honor rather than the profit, and is 
gratified to enjoy the distinction of representing 
our country in that part of Norway, and is 
delighted at an opportunity of being in any way 
serviceable to those he claims as his distant con- 
stituents, when they happen to wander within 
his jurisdiction. It was a source of deep regret 
that the severe colds with which the ladies suf- 
fered after the midnight fishing excursion pre- 
vented them from paying their respects to his 
good lady, of whose courtesy and kindness we 
heard the most favorable reports from all who 
met her. 



170 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



Having completed our stay at Hammerfest, 
we bade it farewell, not without regret at parting 
with those who had treated the strangers with so 
much kindness, and soon after breakfast went on 
board the little steamer which, as before stated, 
serves as a tender to those of the regular line, 
by running along the coast far into the interior. 
We were soon on our way from this most north- 
ern point I ever expect to reach. Our course led 
us over the spot where we had seen the midnight 
sun a few evenings before, and where the ladies 
had so much enjoyed the fishing. Thence we 
turned a point to the left, which shut out the last 
view of the quiet little town, which is situated 
so far within the Arctic Circle as to give it one 
distinction at least above all the greatest cities 
of the world, and for this alone, if for no other 
reason, it must ever be a place of interest to 
the traveler. 

We could hardly comprehend how far north 
we were till we looked upon the map and traced 
the parallels from one continent to the other, 
and found we were several degrees north of 
Behring's Strait, and nearly on the line with 
Barrow's Point, the extreme point of the conti- 
nent on the northwest coast of America, which 



PERPETUAL DAY. 171 

* 

is so far thrust out into the frozen ocean. Here 
the ocean never freezes ; there it is always frozen, 
except for a short time in summer. 

Now we were in the same latitude with the 
western magnetic pole on Boothia Felix, near 
and but little north of which Sir John Franklin 
and his party were frozen in, and finally perished 
to the last man. When the map revealed these 
* relative positions, we saw that in very truth we 
were a long way from home, and were well on 
our way to the pole itself. 

Our course soon changed to the southeast, and 
we quickly threaded our way among the maze of 
islands and through the crooked channels, where 
a stranger would have become inextricably con- 
fused and lost. The day was beautiful ; the sun 
shone brightly, the air was soft and sweet and 
bracing. The eider-ducks were constantly flying 
across our course, and small herds of reindeer 
were seen on the sides of the mountains, or in 
the intervales near the water's edge. Fishing huts 
were often passed, and the fishermen in their 
boats were frequently met with, and there only 
lacked the appearance of a bear or a stately elk 
to nil up the picture of animated nature. 

The scenery this day was finer than any we 



172 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 

*< 

had before met, and we spent the day upon the 
deck, enjoying it to the full, and the mind would 
involuntarily wander back to pre-historic times 
and wonder who, with human eyes, first saw 
these steep mountains and bold shores, who first 
climbed the craggy cliffs or attempted to pick 
his way along these fjords and among these 
fantastic islands, each so widely differing from 
the other, and vet many so rushed and so * 
frowning? What were those people like and 
who are their descendants ? Where are the rec- 
ords they have left, and in what condition did 
they live ? Ancient relics here are scarce, and 
the paleontologist finds scant record to tell him 
of the past. 

The islands, however, which we this day 
passed were not all mountains. The views were 
diversified with lower lands and tamer scenery. 
On quite a number the surface was compara- 
tively low and level and covered with trees and 
shrubbery, almost out of keeping with the usual 
scenery in arctic Norway. 

In the afternoon we reached the head of 
Alten Fjord and made our final landing at 
Bosekop. This has, by some, been called the 
Eden of Lapland, and is certainly the most beau- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



tifully located of any place we saw in Fin mark. 
The shipping is accommodated at a small dock, 
adjoining which are two small warehouses. From 
this point the bluff rises about one foot in eight 
to the altitude of about one hundred feet, where 
occurs a narrow table and then another more 
gentle ascent, of less height to the level country 
stretching away inland. Further south there is 
more space between the water and the bluff, 
alonor which runs a street or road, bordered bv 
peasants' cottages or fishermen's cabins. 

The broad hill-side was covered with a rich 
carpet of green grass, which presented a cheer- 
ful prospect. An evergreen forest crowned the 
heights beyond, and we seemed all at once to 
have entered upon a scene of rich vegetation, 
quite in contrast with the barrenness or stunted 
growth we had everywhere previously met. 

The hotel is a larae two-story wooden 
house, built in the manner before described, and 
newly painted white, and standing as it does on 
that first high table, commands a view of the 
great bay in front for ten miles or more, and is 
a conspicuous object, which may be seen at a 
great distance from the southern part of the 
bay, but is hidden by a high promontory from 



174 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



the northern approach. There was no carriage 
there to take us up the hill, so we had to make 
the ascent on foot. It was a hard task for the 
invalid and was a work of time. Frequent 
rests upon the soft grass lightened the labor 
much, and so we reached the house, where we 
found comfortable rooms — comfortable for those 
who desire to be satisfied and pleased with what 
is clean, though very plain, and really provides 
for one's physical nature as well as if luxuries 
were thrown in ; for here, certainly, there was 
not the least appearance of luxury. But the 
people were obliging and desirous to please, and 
this is a seasoning which makes palatable very 
plain fare indeed. Those who are always quar- 
reling with their bread and butter are not likely 
to have a pleasant journey. 

After taking possession of our new quarters 
and seeing all things made comfortable, I sallied 

O <_> ' 

out to explore, and soon found myself at the 
top of the second table. It was a luxury to find 
myself walking on a carpet of rich, green grass, 
and what was still more pleasing, I found among 
the grass quite a variety of wild flowers, and 
during a short walk I gathered a pretty arctic 
bouquet. This was cheering news, and I hastened 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



175 



to the house to communicate it, and to present 
the evidence that if nature frowns upon these 
bleak regions with stern rigor she smiles as 
well at times. Of course all must be enthusi- 
astic over arctic flowers, and a regular excursion 
in search of them was planned for the next 
day. 

A single day showed a wonderful develop- 
ment of flowers, and indeed all vegetation. Ten 
flowers were found now where one was met the 
day before, and many new varieties which were 
not then observed, so that we had no trouble 
in making a fine collection. 

On the top of the upper table an extensive 
peat bog was found, though apparently of lim- 
ited depth. Several excavations showed where 
peat, though of an inferior quality, had been 
taken for fuel, and drains were cut through it in 
various directions. 

Many cows were pasturing upon it, though 
the grass seemed coarser and less abundant 
than beyond it. The most abundant vegetation 
found on the peat bog was a low, shrubby vine, 
on which a yellow berry grows, about the size 
of a mulberry, which is called Mtiltebar, and is 
extensively used in that country in the form of 



176 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



sauce. It is also made into preserves when fresh, 
and thus kept, and it is even exported in bar- 
rels. I confess it was not agreeable to my palate. 
It lacked flavor, and had an insipid taste. With 
longer use I might, no doubt, become fond of it. 
On our first arrival at Bosekop scarcely one of 
these vines was in bloom ; yet in two days after 
the ground was white with the flowers all over 
the peat bed. 

The deposit of peat I found very common on 
the rocky islands and in places where I should 
not have thought of looking for it. I found it 
often spread out in thin sheets, not more than 
one or two inches thick, on the steep sides of 
the otherwise naked rock, hundreds of feet up 
the declivity, where one would suppose it would 
be washed off by the first heavy rain. Geolo- 
gists may, no doubt, readily explain how it got 
there and how it is retained, but I confess it is 
to me a profound mystery. Of course it was 
poor and unfit for fuel of any considerable 
value ; but still it was true peat, and would 
make a fire when nothing better could be found. 

<z> 

Still back of the peat bog and on the highest 
elevation stood the Lutheran church, a good- 
sized, commodious structure, painted white, ex- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



177 



cept the steeple, which was black. Nearly all 
the Lutheran churches in Norway are of one 
style of architecture. They have high, steep 
roofs, with tall, slender spires, and with a closed 
porch in front, and then an ante-room, the roof 
of which is still higher, which is attached to the 
ma'in building under the spire. To the opposite 
or back end of the church is attached a small 
structure. This suggested to an unregenerate 
sinner the horrid conundrum, "Why is the Nor- 
wegian church like a rolling-pin?" To which 
he coolly answered, " Because it tapers at both 
ends!" 

Around this church are quite a number of 
neat and comfortable dwellings. 

This suburb is full half a mile back from the 
town near the bay. 

The country back was covered with a pine 
forest. The trees were not large, but were 
abundant. Deciduous trees were met with fur- 
ther south and down the bluff, but they were 
scarcely more than shrubs. So far as I went in 
the interior the country was pretty level ; but 
the soil was light and not very productive. In 
several places the forest had been cleared away 
and snug farmsteads established ; but not suffi- 

12 



178 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



cient to show that, even in that favored spot, 
agriculture was prosperous. At the most thrifty 
looking place I saw, the farmer was a blacksmith 
as well, and it is quite probable that his thrift 
was owing as much to this as to that occupation. 
The old plows lying around outside his shop, 
and apparently abandoned for use, showed some 
curious designs, while others resembled our own 
very much. 

I did not extend my rambles into the valley, 
or rather the bottoms of the Alten river ; but 
obtained a pretty extensive view of the valley, 
which had the appearance of a prosperous agri- 
cultural country, with line farms and houses, 
which was refreshing to look upon in the arctic 
regions. This rich valley extends far back into 
the country and relieves the general sterility of 
the land. 

The Alten river is a large stream, and famous 
for its salmon-fishing, and empties into the fjord 
a few miles east of the town. 

A mile or more below the town, upon an 
extensive shingle beach, were a great many little 
stacks of codfish, which had there been dried, 
and were now being taken away in small boats 
and loaded in bulk into a schooner lying at the 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



179 



dock. Men and women, girls and boys, to the 
number of thirty or forty, were engaged in this 
service, and, except the children, they for their 
services received thirty skillings per day of 
about twelve hours work. The girls, especially, 
seemed very strong, and were the most efficient 
hands. There were no young men among them. 
These were, no doubt, all off fishing at night, 
or what should be night ; for the fishing-boats, I 
observed, went out about six o'clock in the even- 
ing, and were generally returned before I was up 
in the morning. 

I took a walk down the beach and inspected 
more closely the numerous stacks of codfish, and 
then turned away to the left and followed a 
blind road, which led me to the upper bluff, 
through a dense growth of shrubbery, and thence 
made my way along the top of the bluff, toward 
the town, passing several cabins on the way, 
surrounded by gardens, which were just being 
planted on the third of July. 

As I was passing one of these cabins a stout 
little lad, about three years old, joined me and 
trotted along in front till we came to a brook, 
across which a stick was laid to serve as a foot 
passage. The child made me understand he 



180 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



wanted to cross, so I picked him up and set 
him down on the other side, as I supposed to 
join some men at work by the side of the path, 
among- whom I assumed was his father. He 
led the way past them, however, without the 
least notice, and trotted on in a waddling gait, 
but with an independent air, which now became 
amusing. When I stopped to examine the pros- 
pect, or some interesting object, he would stop 
and wait for me, as if he were in my service as 
a guide. When we came to a set of bars across 
the main road, which we there joined, leading- 
down to the hotel, he stopped and waited till I 
opened them, and then tumbled through and 
trotted down the hill. Presently I heard a fe- 
male voice calling out in a sharp, commanding 
tone which put the boy at once at the top of 
his speed, and he certainly made good time, for 
one of his form and years, down the hill ; but 
the mother — as I presume — came rushing by 
me in hot pursuit, with long and rapid strides, 
and soon overtook the runaway, and caught him 
up and made several impressions on him with 
her brawny hand, which must have left the cu- 
ticle of the voung Norwegian in rather a glow- 
ing condition. She then shouldered the lad and 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



181 



packed him off up the hill and toward home, 
in a way which plainly said she was not pleased 
with the truant habits of her young hopeful. 

I did not suspect that the boy was running 
away till the irate mother thus suddenly burst in 
upon the scene, and when I did comprehend the 
situation I could not help admiring how ingeni- 
ously the little rascal had managed to get me to 
help him over the brook, which the good house- 
wife had, no doubt, depended upon as a sure bar- 
rier to his truant habits, and how the confident 
and quiet air he had all along assumed tended 
to allay any suspicion of the real truth. That 
lad, I have little doubt, will yet make His mark. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Historical monument; Harold Haarfager, Norway's first 
and great king; the story of his conquest of kingdom 
and queen; the expelled jarls; their settlements and 
colonies; discovery of iceland ; its settlement, repub- 
lican government, conversion to christianity, historians 
and poets; discovery and settlement of greenland; scan- 
dinavian claim of the discovery of america; the several 
expeditions; the first white max" buried and the first 
white child borx in america; credit to which these 
claims of discovery are entitled. 

IN the course of this ramble I observed some 
distance from the path along which the way 
was leading me, in a lone and desolate looking 
place, a rough monument, consisting of a single 
thick granite slab, about twelve feet high, which 
I approached, and read high up on its face this 
inscription : 

Harold, 872. 
Carl, 1872. 

I had heard no mention of this monument, 
and hence was looking; for nothing of the kind. 
When I found it I was at no loss to understand 
that the first line referred to the first great king; 

of Norway, who reigned a thousand years ago, 

(183) 



184 



A SUMMER IN XORWAY. 



while the second explained itself. I could not 
doubt that the first was designed to commemo- 
rate some great event in the life or reign of 
Harold Haarfager connected with Norway, and 
probably with the very spot where the column 
is raised ; but what that particular event was 
no one could explain. The epoch referred to 
was, no doubt, the final conquest of the petty 
governments into which Norway was divided; 
but if the closing scene was there enacted I did 
not know of it, nor what was the last act to 
complete the final conquest. 

Harold Haarfager was the son and heir of 
Halvdan the Black, who was- king in southern 
Sweden and southeastern Norway, as the bound- 
aries no'w run. Edsvoldbakken, of which I shall 
have occasion to say more hereafter, was the seat 
of government, or the place where the people 
used to assemble en masse to make the laws. 

At that time Norway was divided into thirty- 
one principalities or earldoms, which were gov- 
erned by independent jarls or earls, not abso- 
lutely or despotically, but as the leaders of 
petty democracies where classes of the people, 
more or less select, participated directly in 
legislation. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



185 



When Harold Haarfager was born is not 
known, and the computations which have been 
made to settle the date of his nativity do not 
agree, and none are quite satisfactory. If we 
accept 850 as the date of his birth, we make 
him a greater prodigy in love than he is proved 
to have been in war. 

We may accept the year 860 as a better 
authenticated date for the time when he com- 
menced the war against the neighboring jarls 
for the unification of the crown of Norway. It 
is said that he was stimulated to undertake that 
great enterprise by his love for Gyda, the 
daughter of the neighboring king of Hordoland, 
whose beauty and accomplishments had become 
famous. So he sent an embassy to offer her his 
heart if not his hand. The ambitious maiden 
rejected his proposal with a lofty and dignified 
scorn, and sent him w T ord that she would not be- 
come the wife of any one less than a real king, 
governing in his own right the entire country. 
Let him first subdue the trifling fellows who as- 
sumed to rule as jarls the petty districts, which 
they called their own, and reign as supreme king 
of Norway, and then she might possibly think of 
him should she still be disengaged. 



186 



A SUMMER IN NOR IV A I 



A spirit so congenial to his own ambitious 
aspirations captivated him still more than her 
matchless beauty, and he resolved to win -her 
upon the conditions which she proposed. 

Now this Harold had a beautiful head of 
yellow hair, with a rich and flowing beard, which 
was the admiration of the whole world ; and to 
assure Gyda how much he was in earnest, he 
swore by all the gods, and especially Odin and 
Thor, that he would never cut his hair or trim 
his beard, and some of his greatest admirers, 
who wish to put it very strongly, say, nor comb 
them either — I believe some say that he fore- 
swore the use of water — till he should accom- 
plish the sanguinary task which was the condition 
on which depended his success in that important 
love affair. For twelve long years, and some 
say fifteen, and some even more, the unkempt 
lover fought his way through Norway, subduing 
one after another the petty jarls who had before 
held independent sway, until, finally, he found 
all prostrate at his feet, and obeying him as 
their lawful sovereign, or else they had fled to 
other lands, and sought new homes beyond the 
reach of his long arm. 

Not content with Norway alone, the tide of 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



187 



his triumph rolled westward across the boisterous 
North Sea, and overwhelmed the Orkneys and 
the Hebrides. He was a terrible man, and none 
could stand before him. 

It may be well imagined that in subduing 
all the jarls of Norway he subdued the obdurate 
heart of Gyda as well, and now that her condi- 
tion had been complied with, and he had clipped 
and combed his hair and beard, and washed, she 
fell into the arms of love, which were also the 
arms of valor, without further importunity, and 
with only the second asking, for now she won 
a flittering- crown as well as a flowing- heart. 
What though it was not a virgin heart and all 
her own, as it probably would have been had 
she said yes at first, the crown made up what 
was lost of heart. It may not be easy for those 
of this generation, when staid and monoe/amic 
habits have revolutionized the sense of the pro- 
prieties of life, to understand how the triumphant 
bride could feel no humiliation in the knowledge 
that she possessed but a fraction of her husband's 
love, and share the royal couch with half a 
dozen other wives, more or less. With how 
many he had consoled himself during his long 



188 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



probation history does not certainly inform us, 
but hints that they were many. 

Thus • was established one of the greatest 

o 

dynasties of northern Europe, and to his mem- 
ory the monument was erected which I found 
in the lonely place on the high bluff beyond 
Bosekop, many degrees within the Arctic Circle. 
The particular event with which Charles XVI. 
was ambitious to associate his name with that of 
the great king could not be mistaken ; although 
the date of the final conquest of the reigning 
jarls and the complete unification of the crown 
of Norway is stated differently by different his- 
torians, we may now consider it as settled by 
authority that it was in 872. 

What event connected this particular place 
with that great epoch, to have designated it as 
the site of the monument, I dare not pretend 
to say. It tells the passer by that a thousand 
years have passed since Harold did some great 
deed there, or perhaps that some great naval 
battle upon the bay beneath the place was 
fought, whence its fluctuating fortunes and final 
triumph could be observed. 

Often unlooked for results follow violent 
events. So it was in this case. The triumph 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



189 



of the lance secured the triumph of learning. 
The establishment of monarchy gave birth to a 
new republic. The extension of conquest led the 
way to the extension of discoveries, far more 
startling than were ever known before, and led 
the vikings of the far north to a sight f longer 
winter days and more fertile lands than their 
ancestors had ever known. From the land of 
the Lapp they found the way to the home of 
the " Skraellinger," a wilder, a fiercer, a darker 
and a more savage race than they had ever 
before dreamed of, without a. knowledge of the 
arts or agriculture, except of the rudest kind ; 
without domestic animals, without fixed abodes 
or institutions, in a country capable of the high- 
est culture, and fit for a home of refinement and 
knowledge. Such was the land and such the 
people discovered by the Northmen forced into 
distant seas by the heavy hand of Harold, and 
it may be interesting to the American reader at 
least to devote a few pages to an account of 
those great discoveries. 

During the twelve years' war which Harold 
Haarfager prosecuted against the small Norway 
democracies, and which finally terminated in 
their subjugation, in the latter part of the ninth 



190 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



century, many distinguished Norwegians fled to 
other countries rather than submit to the sway 
of the conqueror. The vikings sailed away with 
their followers to the British Isles and the north- 
ern coast of France, and many distinguished 1 
Norwegians sought an asylum in the more 
northern groups of islands, the Faroes, Shetlands, 
Orkneys, and the Hebrides, although there too 
the sway of the conqueror was felt, though less 
rigorously. 

Although Iceland may have been visited from 
the Mediterranean centuries before the Christian 
era, and is claimed to have been seen by some 
wanderers much later, still the world Was in fact 
ignorant of its existence till the very year in 
which Harold commenced his war of conquest 
of Norway, when it was visited by one of those 
Norse sea-rovers named Naddodd. Four years 
later Gardar, a Swedish navigator, fell in with 
the island and gave it his own name. Six years 
later two Norwegians, Ingrolfr and Leif, while 
cruising in the northern seas, came upon this 
great island, and from its frigid surroundings and 
appearance gave it the name which it has ever 
since borne. 

From these various discoveries the existence 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



191 



of the island became generally known, and its 
quiet though inhospitable seclusion began to be 
canvassed as a fit asylum by those of scholastic 
taste in Norway, who were sick of turmoil and 
bloodshed and longed for that peace so indis- 
pensable to the rich indulgence of their culti- 
vation and refinement. 

The result was that in 874 a considerable 
number of the most learned Norwegians, who 
hated tyranny and loved the old freedom which 
was now greatly curtailed though not entirely 
crushed out in their native land, taking with 
them their families, friends and effects, and with 
many sighs and regrets, bid farewell to the 
rugged shores of Norway and sailed to Ice- 
land, where they made a settlement, which 
served as a nucleus for succeeding immigrations 
of the same people, who rapidly followed, till a 
very considerable state was formed. 

They instituted a government of their own, 
modeled after the independent forms which 
Harold had overthrown at home, which secured 
to every one the utmost freedom consistent )with 
the public safety. 

This free republic continued with the utmost 



192 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



quiet and good order till overthrown by Den- 
mark more than four hundred years later. 

The quiet of this far-off place, instead of 
causing them to relaose into barbarism, invited 
them to mental culture, and in the end the 
inhospitable island situated on the very borders 
of the Arctic Circle, became, in fact, an impor- 
tant seat of learning. There the old and the 
wise recounted to each other and carefully 
compared the traditions and stories which each 
had received from seniors to whom they had 
been handed down by preceding generations, 
and recited the poems which they had heard 
sung by their ancestors, or composed by them- 
selves to commemorate the events of their own 
times. Thus were the lone arctic nights of 
winter profitably employed in learned discus- 
sions and dissertations, while the outside world 
was disturbed by drunken brawls and bloody 
wars, the approaching shadows of the dark ages 
hanging over and retarding the advancement of 
the human mind. 

Still paganism was the prevalent religion. 
Temples to Thor and Odin were still reared 
and consecrated, but without enslaving their 
votaries and bowing them beneath a yoke of 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



193 



insupportable bigotry and superstition. All the 
while the mental light grew stronger and 
stronger, till finally an hundred years after the 
first establishment of the republic, the effulgence 
of Christianity broke in upon them and ban- 
ished the heathen eods. 

About this time the learned men of Iceland 
began to record the important events of their 
own times, and also to reduce to writing the 
traditions and stories and poems of historical 
events, which had been hitherto preserved in 
memory alone. 

The history thus recorded was fragmentary 
no doubt, and not always consistent, but prob- 
ably did as little violence to truth as many 
histories of other countries written in the inter- 
ests of nations, dynasties or individuals, though 
of greater pretensions. 

The Norwegians have always been a mari- 
time people, and the intercourse was always 
active between Iceland and the mother country 
by means of trading vessels. 

The longest step between Norway and Amer- 
ica is the distance from Norway to Iceland. The 
next step is to Greenland, which, at the nearest 
point, is less than half the former distance, and 

l 3 



194 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 

to Cape Farewell, the southern extremity of 
Greenland, the distance must be about the same, 
and thence to this continent the distance is in 
fact less than from Norway to Iceland, though 
to Newfoundland it would be greater. 

The vessels in use at that time in Norway 
were capable of riding very boisterous seas, 
although more under the influence of contrary 
winds than the improved rig of modern times. 

Very soon after the settlement of Iceland, 
mariners who had been driven from their course 
by adverse winds reported land to the west of 
Iceland, and Erick the Red, near the close of 
the tenth century, sailed westward from Iceland 
in search of a new country, which he found and 
named Greenland, in order to attract settlers. 
Here an independent colony was established, 
still republican in form, which maintained its 
independence for more than three hundred years. 

The Icelandic records, which were simulta- 
neously reduced to writing and were not depend- 
ent upon the memory of man, as had been the 
previous history, tell us that in 986 Bjarn, the 
son of Herjulf, in prosecuting a voyage from 
Iceland to join his father in Greenland, whither 
he had gone in company with Erick the Red, 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



195 



was driven from his course by a violent north 
wind, which forced him a long way south into 
the Atlantic, during which he was much of the 
time enveloped in dense fogs. 

When the storm abated and the fog" lifted, he 
saw to the west a level wooded coast, but not 
observing the snow-clad mountains characteristic 
of Greenland he refused to land, and bore away 
to the northeast. After a few days' sail he again 
discovered a similar coast, and* a^ain after a few 
days more similar land was seen on his left, 
which, for the same reason, he passed by, and, 
pressed forward by a strong southwest wind, 
sighted the snow mountains of Greenland, which 
told him it was the land of his destination. 

Now the direction of the wind which drove 
him from his course, and the dense foe which he 

<z> 

encountered, strongly indicate that he must have 
passed near the Banks of Newfoundland ; and 
the course, and time occupied in making his 
way back before favorable winds, and the 
description of the land which he saw, have led 
those who have studied the subject to conclude 
that the first land Bjarn saw was the New Eng- 
land coast, probably even south of Boston, the 



196 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



second Nova Scotia, and the third Newfound- 
land. 

When Bjarn returned to Iceland he told this 
story, and it was recorded at the time, and bears 
the marks of authentic history a*s much as the 
records of contemporaneous events in other 
countries which are accepted as authentic. Sub- 
sequent events proved their truth. 

This account of Bjarn produced a sensation, 
not only in Greenland and Iceland, but in Nor- 
way also, to which country he returned a few 
years later, producing in others a desire to know 
more of the land which he had seen at a distance. 
So Leif, son of Erick the Red, fitted out an 
expedition with the same ship which he pur- 
chased, and thirty-five resolute men, and sailed 
in the way whence Bjarn had returned, and in 
due time sighted Newfoundland, where he landed 
and explored the country, and then proceeded 
further and landed in Nova Scotia, and then 
prosecuted his voyage further south along the 
trend of the coast, and finally landed on the 
New England coast, where they finally took up 
their winter quarters and built a house for their 
protection. Here they found an abundance of 
wild grapes of an excellent quality, and hence 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



197 



named it Vinland. These winter quarters are 
supposed to have been located on the Massa- 
chusetts coast, somewhere in the neighborhood 
of Fall River. 

After the winter was passed, which much 
surprised the Norwegians by the length of the 
days, the sun being above the horizon for nine 
hours at the shortest, while in their northern 
home the night was scarcely broken by the sun 
at noonday, this first expedition which landed 
on American soil re-embarked, and returned to 
spread the marvelous news among their country- 
men. 

Thus in the very year in which Olaf Trygg- 
veson ended his brilliant career on the decks 
of the Long Serpent, where he lost his crown 
and his life together, his countrymen made the 
discovery of this great continent, where great 
nations have sprung up, and are still growing 
with marvelous rapidity ; where we boast of a 
freedom not known since the overthrow of their 
own democracies ; where science and art and 
civilization are marching in unison with the 
advance of the old world ; and where the bund 
and the scholars of Norway accept the invitation 
held out to all to come and share the fortunes, 



198 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



and help build up and support the institutions 
of the country which their ancestors first dis- 
covered. 

In my judgment it is a well-established his- 
torical fact that in the year iooo Leif Erikson, 
with his party of thirty-five men, actually landed 
upon the American soil and spent the winter 
here. In all probability he -was the first white 
man who ever placed foot on American soil. 

The next year after Leif's return from Vin- 
land (1002), his brother Thorwald started with 
another expedition, which landed in the newly- 
discovered country, where he made a more per- 
manent settlement, for they remained three years, 
but in a battle with the natives the leader was 
killed by an arrow, and was the first of Euro- 
pean blood to find a burial-place beneath Amer- 
ican sod. In 1 83 1 the remains of an European 
were exhumed on the Massachusetts coast, which 
were believed by many to be those of the Sea 
King there buried more than eight hundred years 
before. The armor found on the skeleton cor- 
responded both in pattern and composition with 
those worn by the Norsemen at that time. 

After the death of their leader the party left 
the country and returned to Greenland. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



199 



The last expedition which I will mention, was 
undertaken by Thorfinn Karlsefne in 1007. It 
was more elaborate and complete than any of 
the preceding, and evidently designed for per- 
manent colonization. It was composed of one 
hundred and fifty-one men and seven women, 
one of whom was Gudrid, the wife of the dis- 
tinguished leader, and she appears to have been 
a woman of great enterprise and resolution, and 
had used all her influence to induce her husband 
to the enterprise. They took with them a con- 
siderable colonial outfit, including implements 
and domestic animals, and eoods to trade with 
the natives. 

After a prosperous voyage they too landed 
on the Massachusetts coast, and there planted 
the new colony. 

In the year following, Gudrid gave birth to a 
son, whom she named Snorre. Many of his 
descendants became distinguished for their learn- 
ing and genius, and it is confidently asserted 
that the immortal Thorwaldsen was a lineal 
descendant of this first European born on Amer- 
ican soil. 

Indian hostilities, which they were too feeble 
to resist, compelled Thorfinn, at the end of three 



200 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



years, to break up his colony, and with his enter- 
prising wife and new-born heir, return to Green- 
land. 

The inscription on the Tonulon rock, is inter- 
preted to give an account of this expedition, and 
to corroborate the explicit account of the Saga 
which preserves its history. 

I will not stop to particularize several other 
expeditions of the Northmen, of which accounts 
are given in cotemporary Sagas, extending down 
to the middle of the fourteenth century, the last 
one being about one hundred and fifty years 
before the discovery of the new world by Colum- 
bus. These enterprises extended the whole length 
of our Atlantic coast as far south at least as Fer- 
nandina in Florida. 

Let no one turn away with incredulity, because 
they are not as familiar with the accounts of 
these orreat discoveries by the ancient Xorwe- 
gians as they are with the more recent discovery 
by the Genoese navigator. Let the reader not 
condemn them as fables, at least till he can find 
one man of learning who has carefully and impar- 
tially examined these ancient records, and ex- 
presses a doubt of their authenticity. So long 
as all those who have examined them, and who 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



201 



are capable of judging, accept them as authentic, 
it illy becomes us to reject them as mere fiction. 
For myself, I frankly say I believe in their verity, 
and have no doubt that we are indebted to the 
North and not to the South for the first discov- 
ery of this great land. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Gardens and grass at Bosekop; copper mine at Kaafjord; 
leave Bosekop; christening and confirmation pilgrims: 
fourth of july on the steamer; miss the stars and 
stripes; meet friends at Oxfjord; the voyage south ; 
changed aspect produced by summer ; tromso ; contested 
lodgings; Laplander encampments; herds of reindeer; 
arrange for a visit; the trip by water; rather com- 
ical landing. 

WHILE at Bosekop, the people were just 
making their gardens, and there, on the 
third of July, in a garden which had been planted 
to potatoes, I found one plant only which was 
just breaking ground, and yet they expected that 
crop to mature during the remnant of the short 
summer which remained. The only cereal which 
is there sown is barley, and the product of that 
grain is limited and confined to the most favored 
places, as the valley of the Alten. But even 
there grass is more to be depended upon and is 
more remunerative. I saw more cattle there 
than in all other places in arctic Norway com- 
,bined. Bosekop is a famous starting point for a 
passage over the mountains to Tornea, at the 
head of the Gulf of Bothnia. 

(203) 



204 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



At Bosekop we could see the smoke of the 
furnace at the copper mines of Kaafjord, which 
are situated on an arm of the bay before us 
ten miles away, and are hid by a promontory 
which intervenes. 

After we had finished our proposed stay at 
Bosekop we bade it farewell, and again went on 
board the little steamer which had brought us 
from Hammerfest. We steamed directly across 
the bay for the copper mines. Our stay here 
was short, but long enough to see that it is a 
very pretty place, situate on a pretty, broad 
declivity, covered with a rich carpet of green 
grass, broken with garden patches already planted, 
and some stunted trees which served for orna- 
mental purposes. 

We only tarried here long enough to land a 
few passengers, and to take on board almost the 
entire population of the place, including men, 
women and children, but excluding the dogs, 
which must have been left to guard the deserted 
homes. 

The little steamer was absolutely crammed 
full ; every available foot of standing room where , 
steerage passengers were allowed was occupied, 
and the concert of infantile music was truly 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



205 



refreshing. All seemed in fine spirits, as if 
going to a fair, a show or a picnic. Their 
gaiety, however, was not increased by a smart 
shower of rain, which came pouring down upon 
us so soon as we had rounded to and resumed 
our course. The women with children were 
mostly got under cover, by turning out in the 
rain others not so blessed, who seemed not to. 
admire the situation when they first met the 
falling shower. They, however, made the best 
of it, and' appeared to be cracking jokes about 
it with their friends similarly situated. They 
were not dry jokes at least, but whether they 
were witty or not I could not understand. I 
inquired of the first officer what was the occasion 
of so great a turn out, and how far they were 
to go with us, and learned they were only going 
to the next hamlet to a christening and confir- 
mation, which was a satisfactory explanation of 
the multitude of babies and of youths we had 
on board. The latter were as jolly and frolic- 
some as the space would admit, the former were 
— no matter; we were all children once, and no 
doubt gave our mothers and nurses a great deal 
of trouble, and certainly these did no more. 

W e skirted along the westerly shore of the 



206 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



bay, very near to the headlands which jutted out 
into the water, showing that the shores were 
bold, and giving us an opportunity to admire 
the snug little green nooks, all occupied with the 
inevitable red earth-covered cabin, and a snug 
garden spot around it, testifying to industry and 
contentment. 

Finally the whistle sounded, and we soon 
rounded a point which brought into view the 
little hamlet of Talvick, with its neat little white 
church, situated a short distance apart from the 
cluster of red houses — it is a universal custom 
in Norway to set the church on one side — while 
all around looked cheerful and refreshing. A 
large number of boats were pulling out from 
the dock, to take off the multitude we had 
brought from Kaafjord, while the pier was black 
with the inhabitants of the place, come down to 
welcome their friends ; so it was manifest they 
were expected, and everything testified that all 
considered the coming event an important one. 

We lay too far out to enable me to distin- 
guish the pastor among his expectant flock, but 
he was no doubt there, unless some custom 
rendered that unusual. The boats came not in 
the usual way for fares, but each one seemed to 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



20? 



seek out friends and take them on board with a 
welcome, greeting, and those who had not friends 
to come for them waited till the last, and then 
went on shore by the boats which returned for 
strangers. This landing occupied some time, but 
at last all were gone, and we resumed our voyage. 

This day was the fourth of July, 1874, and 
we shall never cease to lament that we had no 
American flag to place over our heads. Let no 
one ever travel into foreign lands without taking 
along the' stars and stripes, for he will surely 
meet with times when the sight of it will warm 
his heart and do him good. 

I remember once when I had climbed the last 
rock on the top of a mountain which overlooked 
the port of Nice, when the first thing I saw 
on looking down was the Colorado, with our 
national flag floating over her. She was so far 
away that she looked no larger than a canoe, 
and the flag no larger than one's hand, but that 
sight filled me with a great joy, and I shouted 
huzzas so loud and so often repeated that my 
companions, who were slowly climbing after me, 
were alarmed, and hastened on ; but when they 
came they shouted too, and right then and there 
we had a right good jollification. 



208 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



And now I had gone again without the flag, 
and deeply reproached myself for the neglect. I 
longed for one, though no larger than a glove, 
and we sympathized together that we had it not, 
and yet afterwards, when unpacking her trunk, 
one of the ladies found a flag which, though but 
a toy, would have then been held above all 
price. Well, for all that, we had a good time, 
and celebrated our nation's natal day with pa- 
triotic toasts and speeches which made the 
strangers look and wonder what could possess 
us four to make so much fuss, but our inter- 
preter explained the cause, when they seemed 
satisfied that, at least, the boat was not in danger. 

I do not know at what hour our celebration 
closed, but I do know that we went to our bunks 
and got a good sleep, and when we awakened 
in the morning we found we were at anchor in 
Oxfjord, where we lay till the Hakon-Jarl came 
from the north and dropped alongside, and we 
were transferred to the latter steamer, where we 
found our friends with whom we had parted 
when we left the steamer at Hammerfest, and 
who had gone on to visit the North Cape and 
beyond, an account of which as received from 
them I have already related. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



209 



So soon as the transfer was completed, we 
waived an adieu to the officers of the little 
coaster and some traveling acquaintances who 
had gone north designing to make an overland 
journey to Bothney from the North Cape, but 
finding the route impracticable, were now bound 
to Bosekop with the design to make the pas- 
sage from there, but they afterwards overtook 
us at Dombaas, the first station after we crossed 
the Dover- fj eld, and reported that all the 
guides refused to undertake the journey, which 
they declared to be absolutely impracticable, 
because of the high waters from the melting 
snow on the mountains, which, in ordinary sea- 
sons, would have run down at least a month 
before ; so they reluctantly gave up the expe- 
dition, and turned south to console themselves 
with the fine scenery in southwestern Norway. 

When the last adieus were said, our whistle 
sounded, the steam was let on, and we gaily 
moved away on our return to the south. 

So soon as we got back on our former route, 
and found ourselves am one scenes somewhat 

familiar, we were struck with the change which 

<_> 

had taken place in the vegetable kingdom in so 

short a time. Hills and mountain-sides, which, 
14 



210 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



when we passed up, appeared entirely barren 
and like naked rocks, seemed now covered with 
a rich verdure, grazed by flocks of goats and 
sheep, and sometimes by little ponies or stunted 
cows, where broken rocks and deep black boul- 
ders alone were seen before. The gardens, too, 
around the fisher-huts, seemed now completed, 
and the snow-banks which had rested against 
the inclosing walls, were now gone or much 
diminished. Nature seemed to have awakened 
from her long sleep, and to have aroused her- 
self to gigantic efforts to complete her work if 
possible in the short summer allotted there. 
The scenery was less dark and forbidding than 
it had seemed before. If then the scene seemed 
to wear a forbidding frown, it smiled a welcome 
now. Some streamlets down the mountain-sides, 
which came from the high snow-capped mount- 
ains away above the clouds, were now increased 
to tumbling torrents, and in fleecy foam came 
leaping to the rooky beach, or plunged in head- 
long fury into the deep, still waters which laved 
the steep rocks that bound them ; while others, 
which had come from nearer sources and then 
looked like a chalk-line down the precipice, were 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



211 



now faded and gone, for their fountains had 
melted away and they were dried up. 

In the afternoon clouds gathered, and in the 
evening — I mean the latter part of the day 
when in other lands it would be evening" — the 
rain began to fall, not violently, but gently, 
enough, however, to make out-door watching 
disagreeable and to send us to the cabin. 

We reached Tromso a little before midnight, 
and as usual were surrounded by boats seek- 
ing fares so soon as the anchor was let go. 

Although we had already engaged our rooms 
on shore, we would have gladly staid on board 
till morning, in the hope of better weather for 
the landing, but as all the cabin passengers were 
to land at Tromso, they had determined on the 
boat to take this opportunity to clean up — a 
resolution I could not help commending ; so go 
on shore we must, and so we did. Our inter- 
preter soon selected a boat for our use and got 
the baggage on board, when we followed in the 
rain, and after a pull of half a mile we were 
landed at the steps of a dock and were shown 
the way to our hotel, which we had to reach 
on foot, encountering some muddy roads on 
the way. The front-door of the hotel we found 



212 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



to be a back-door, entering through a narrow, 
muddy lane. 

Another person had hastened on before us, 
and claimed to have engaged the rooms on the 
way up, and so had been admitted on the strength 
of our previous engagement, and had gone back 
for the party and baggage ; but when the shal- 
low trick was explained, we were admitted to 
our rights and took possession and went to bed, 
and refused after to be dispossessed. 

It is the custom in this country to take 
formal possession of apartments at a hotel, or 
a state-room or berth on a steamer, by writing 
the name on a card or piece of paper and 
placing it in the room or berth ; and so the 
party had done in this case, but I found a more 
substantial possession — an actual pedis possessio 
more effective and reliable, and I confess I felt 
as if it would have taken half of Norway to 
have put me out of that room. The good 
woman of the house, who had been innocently 
beguiled into the embarrassing situation, was 
sorely perplexed, and was greatly relieved when 
the false claimant finally darkened her door for 
the last time. 

The most notable event of our tarry at 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



213 



Tromso was our visit to a Lapp encampment, 
and an inspection of a band of reindeer. Sev- 
eral wealthy Lapps have their summer encamp- 
ments in the neighborhood of Tromso. 

One extraordinary habit of the domestic rein- 
deer is that they have an irresistible impulse to 
seek the coast in the summer season, which the 
owner does not attempt to oppose. They take 
up the line of march from the highlands to the 
coast voluntarily when the advancement of the 
season has made a certain progress — usually 
in June, but in very backward seasons this is 
delayed till July. If the owner cannot resist 
this impulse, he can at least control it so as to 
direct them to such point on the coast as he 
may choose ; and this has led to the establish- 
ment of these permanent summer camps. As 
this impulse of the animal is contrary to what 
we should expect, and prompts them to avoid 
the high and colder regions and seek the warm- 
est in the warmest weather, several authors and 
travelers have been misled, probably by their 
inference as to what should be, and have stated 
that these deer seek the cool highlands in sum- 
mer and the coast in the winter, and that too 
when they actually saw large herds of the deer 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



on the coast in the summer. Sir John Richard- 
son states that substantially the same habit is 
observed in the woodland caribou of America, 
in his Fauna Bariola Americana, page 250. He 
there informs us that this caribou emigrates 
north in fall and south in the spring. These 
two animals have the same specific indicia, with 
no more variation than may serve to separate 
them as varieties, having regard, however, to 
modifications consequent on domestication, and 
even this is almost entirely confined to color. 
That the domestic and the wild reindeer of 
Lapland are of the same species, no naturalist 
has ever suggested a doubt, and the wild rein- 
deer of Europe is as constant in color as the 
caribou of America. 

I could not resist the temptation to remark 
this extraordinary habit in both the European 
and American varieties, which I am not aware 
is observed in any other animal. The same 
learned author tells us, at pages 242-3, that this 
habit is reversed in the little barren-ground car- 
ibou of North America, and that it emigrates to 
the north in the summer and to the south in 
the winter. 

The northern limits of the range of one and 



PERPETUAL DAY. 215 

the southern limits of that of the other are in the 
neighborhood of York Factory, on the Hudson's 
Bay, and scarcely overlap each other by a single 
degree. These contrary habits must necessarily 
bring them together, near this dividing line, in 
the fall or winter time, and yet they never inter- 
mingle socially or interlineally. But I must not 
be betrayed into a discussion on the natural his- 
tory of these animals here, more than is befitting 
my present undertaking. 

One of these summer Lapp encampments is 
situate opposite to, and about four miles from, 
Tromso, and is much visited by travelers, and 
there the deer have their regular reception days, 
I understood, twice a week. This I expected to 
visit, and was sadly disappointed to learn that 
the deer had not yet reached the coast, owing 
to the lateness of the season. Fortunately for 
us, Mr. Hanson, a native of Tromso, but who 
had been a resident of Chicago for many years, 
had heard of our coming, and met us on the 
steamer on our arrival, and by his constant 
kindness and attentions, showed that during his 
long residence in America he had lost nothing 
of that courtesy and hospitality so characteristic 
of his countrymen at home. 



216 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



He knew or found a photographer in town 
who spoke the Lapp language and was an ora- 
cle among that people. He knew of a Lapp 
encampment, eight or ten miles up the bay, 
where the reindeer had already reached their 
summer range. A bargain was soon concluded 
with him, for five dollars, to go to the camp 
next day and make arrangements with the Lapp 
to drive down a band of the deer on the day 
following for our inspection, and to go with us 
to act as interpreter and assist us in any other 
way required. Early the next morning he re- 
ported the arrangement completed. 

About nine o'clock we found ourselves seated 
in a comfortable boat, with Mr. Hanson and our 
interpreter, bound for the show. As there was 
no wind on the start, we had to depend on the 
oars, which were pulled by two lusty men, and 
we made good progress. A breeze sprung up, 
the sails were set, and we glided along over the 
dancing waters in a merry mood. We passed 
an island on the way which is a famous nesting- 
place for the eider-duck, where several were now 
sitting, near the hut, with as little apprehension 
as would be shown by the domestic fowl. We 
arranged to stop here on our return. When we 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



217 



reached the head of the bay the tide was down, 
so we could not enter the little creek which 
there puts in, and had to effect a landing on 
the shore outside. The water was very shallow, 
and the bottom and the shore were strewn with 
boulders which were wet and covered with moss 
and sea-weeds, and very slippery. The boat was 
run toward the shore till she grounded in a 
foot of water or more, with a width of fifty feet 
of water still before us. 

Our boatmen, with their long fishing-boots, de- 
liberately stepped into the water and announced 
that we must be packed the rest of the way. 
Doubtful looks were exchanged among us, but 
no time was to be lost, for already the reindeer 
were seen making their way through the bushes 
down the side of the hill. All conceded preced- 
ence to me, and even insisted that I was enti- 
tled to it ; and well they might, even from other 
considerations than seniority, for if two hundred 
and forty pounds should be safely landed, the 
lighter weights might fear no harm. I must not 
hesitate, so I called for a man, and the most 
powerful of the two boatmen backed up and I 
got upon his back and clung about his neck, 
drawing my feet as well up as possible. At first 



218 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 

k 

he staggered a little, and as the stones were 
very slippery, I confess to some fears that I 
might get a ducking, but he soon settled down 
to his work admirably, and with slow and sure 
steps safely reached dry ground. He heaved a 
sigh of relief when I alighted, and then returned 
for another. When all had left the boat except 
one of the young ladies, the youngest of the 
boatmen, a fine strapping lad, who was fresh, for 
he had lifted none yet, evidently disgusted at 
seeing all the ladies carried away by the seniors, 
stepped up with alacrity and took the last in his 
arms, with an evident determination to do or to 
die. He did do, and I suspect nearly died too. 
She was a solid lump of femininity and evi- 
dently heavier than he bargained for. He stag- 
gered the first step, and I called to M to 

be sure and keep the youth underside if they 
did go down. She felt the danger and was rest- 
less, which but embarrassed the lad the more. 
However, he held fast to his load and righted 
himself, then took a cautious step, and then braced 
himself for another. His face looked like a 
piece of mica before a sea-coal fire, and so he 
struggled on till he reached a big stone near 
the edge of the water, when he could hold out 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



219 



no longer, and was staggering to fall. Frantic 
gestures with hands and feet were according to 
no fixed rules, but by a dexterous movement she 
got upon the rock, from which she got to dry 
land without wet feet or serious trouble. Of 
course we managed to get a hearty laugh from 
the incident, and as we thought we laughed in 
English we hoped the young Norwegian would 
not understand it, but he did, and I may here 
say that the first thing in English a foreigner 
can understand is a good hearty laugh, especially 
if it is supposed to be at his expense. 



CHAPTER XV. 



The encampment; the reindeer and the Lapland herders; 
special investigation of the habits of the animal; 
their keeping, and uses; their breeding and natural 
instincts; long conversation with the herders; com- 
pared with other branches of the deer family; domes- 
tication; the value of the milk; lapland cheese; the 
natural food of the reindeer; the universality of the 
moss where the reindeer are found. 

ALL being safely landed, we picked our way 
across the slimy stones which, at high tide, 
are covered by the water, and went through a 
piece of marshy ground partly covered with 
shrubs, to an elevated place commanding an ex- 
tended view, and watched the herd of deer which 
was coming down toward us. 

When they were collected together, to the 
number of about two hundred and fifty, upon 
some flat, naked rocks near the water, we were 
directed to proceed to the inspection. We had 
gone but a few steps directly toward them when 
the old Lapp, the owner, set up a great outcry 
and sent a boy up to us in a rush with a mes- 
sage, as explained by the interpreter, that if we 

(221) 



222 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



approached them from that direction they would 
smell us before they would see us, when all 
would rush away to the mountains at once. 

It was not, I admit, considered compliment- 
ary, that our odor was more frightful than that 
of the Lapps, but then we consoled ourselves 
that tastes are quite artificial, and if man can 
learn to prefer tobacco to an orange, a reindeer 
should be excused for preferring the odor of a 
Lapp to that of — well, our party. But it was 
no time to criticise tastes, so we submitted to 
be led a long way round to the leeward of the 
deer, when we turned directly toward them and 
in full view. 

Most of the band had lain down, no doubt 
being fatigued with the mornings drive. The 
owner, and his good lady Lapp, with some of 
the herdsmen, were right among them talking in 
a soft and soothing way which no doubt the 
beasts understood but we did not. Led by our 
young Lapp we approached very slowly and soon 
found ourselves in the midst of the flock with- 
out any alarm. 

About one half were females, most of which 
had fawns by their sides a month or two old. 
These were more shy than the males, no doubt 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



223 



from solicitude for their young, and most of 
them got up and moved off a little way as we 
approached, still without being frightened, though 
at first they looked at us quite earnestly. They 
were parti-colored, and indeed of all colors, 
though the dark brown, the color of the wild 
deer, predominated, or rather there were more of 
that color than any other. The departure from 
the native tended more to white than to darker 
colors ; though there were very few, if any, abso- 
lutely white, still quite a number were nearly so, 
the invading colors of brown, black or russet being 
generally observed on the hinder part of the 
back or rump. Some were fairly black, but these 
were few. Some were partly black and partly 
brown russet, or white, or perhaps all, and yet 
none were spotted, as we see our cattle spotted, 
with well defined margins to the different colors, 
but the colors were confluent, so that portions 
would be gray or roan. 

The fawns were like the adults, of various 
colors, so that it may be safely assumed that the 
first color is persistent through life, only varying 
in shade with the season of the year, the dark 
shades becoming lighter and duller toward 



224 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



spring. Many of the does had two fawns by 
their sides, but not a majority. 

The antlers I should judge were nearly half 
grown, and so in the velvet, but those on the old 
animals were much more advanced than on the 
young, thus proving true to the - universal law 
which governs the casting and the growth of the 
antlers of all the deer family. The oldest shed 
their antlers first, and on them they grow the 
fastest and first come to maturity. 

After taking a good, and even minute, survey 
of the herd as they lay or stood around me, 
some of the bucks not more than ten feet distant, 
I commenced through the interpreters an exam- 
ination of the Lapp, my questions being first 
interpreted into Norwegian and then into Lapp, 
his answers also requiring a double interpretation. 
This was slow work, no doubt, but the interpret- 
ers were intelligent and so was the Lapp, and 
there were few points inquired about of which 
I did not get a clear understanding, and upon 
these few points the Lapp had no clear under- 
standing himself, for in truth he had not ob- 
served, though the facts must have been open 
to his observation all his life. So it is with us 
all. It is a great thing to learn how to observe. 

o o 




WILD EUROPEAN 



REINDEER — FEMALE. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



225 



Some really important feature may be right 
before us for years, and not be seen at all till 
we are made aware of its importance ; then we 
see it and study it, but not before. 

A modern newspaper man would have de- 
lighted to have reported that interview with the 
Lapp, but as much of it related to points more 
important in a scientific point of view than to 
the general reader, I shall merely state the sub- 
stance of what I learned on a few points of more 
general interest. 

The domesticated reindeer constitutes the 
principal subsistence of the mountain Lapps, 
still they have many other resources, as, for 
instance, fishing in the streams, the sale of their 
fabrics, the pelts and meat of the deer, etc. ; but 
they have an aversion to agriculture, which they 
scarcely ever attempt, unless in the smallest way. 
That an almost exclusively animal diet is healthy 
for them, as well as agreeable, must be conceded. 

The only other domestic animal which they 

have is the dog, which is very useful in herding 

the deer. They use the reindeer not only as a 

beast of draught but also as a beast of burthen, 

though I could not learn that they ever even 

trust their children on their backs. They are 
15 



226 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



only used as draught animals in the winter on the 
snow, when they are attached singly to a light 
sledge resembling much in form the half of an 
Indian's canoe which had been cut in two in the 
middle, each end of which might make a good 
Lapp sledge. The only harness of the deer is a 
broad strap for a collar, passing around the neck 
of the animal where it joins the shoulders, and 
then a thong, fastened to the lower part of the 
collar and thence passing between the legs and 
under the belly, is attached to the front end of 
the sledge. This is of sufficient length to allow 
the deer to be several feet in front of the sledge. 
Another thong is attached to one of the deer's 
antlers, and is held in the hand of the driver, 
with which and by words he guides him. There 
are no means by which the deer can hold back the 
sledge on descending ground. This must be 
done by the driver alone, with his heels over the 
sides, or with some contrivance adapted to the 
purpose, whenever the ground is so steep that 
the deer cannot keep out of the way. The hind 
broad end of the sledge is closed by a vertical 
board sufficiently high to support the shoulders of 
the driver, who seats himself flat in the bottom, 
with his back to this board, well muffled up in 



PERPETUAL BAY. 



227 



his deerskin suit and robes. It is said that the 
reindeer will refuse to be driven by any but a 
Lapp, or one dressed in Lapp costume. However, 
as that is the only dress in which any one could 
comfortably live in Lapland in winter, this may be 
an inference rather than a proved fact, as it may 
rarely have been tried. 

Those sledges which I examined were not 
more than six feet in length, and were very light. 
I could learn of no instance where two deer 
were ever harnessed together, nor are they ever 
attached to wheeled vehicles. 

One of the deer was caught and a pack fast- 
ened on to illustrate that use of the animal. I 
should judge the pack would weigh perhaps 
seventy pounds or less. It is placed well for- 
ward, nearly on the shoulders. The weight did 
not seem to oppress him. He was held and led 
by a thong around his neck, and seemed docile 
and obedient, and was not frightened by stran- 
gers pressing around him. He allowed me to 
put my hand on him, but when I desired to pass 
it down his hind leg he remonstrated by stamp- 
ing quickly, but without kicking. In size, this 
deer is less than our woodland caribou, with 
which it is identical in species, but in eastern 



228 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



Asia the domesticated reindeer is a much larger 
and finer animal than in Lapland, and closely 
resembles in form and development our wood- 
land caribou. There they are used for the sad- 
dle by the Tunguses, and highly prized for that 
purpose, as we are informed by Erman. 

If the Lapland reindeer is able to carry but 
a light pack, numbers make up the deficiency, 
so that when they move camp their impedimenta 
are transported without difficulty. 

Only the males are used as animals of ser- 
vice, nor are these used when in a perfect state. 
As with all the other species of this family, the 
adult male reindeer is apt to be vicious and 
dangerous at certain seasons, and so would be 
unmanageable and unsafe as a beast of labor. 
To overcome this a large majority of the males 
are emasculated when they are three years of 
age. This is not done in the complete manner, 
as observed with us in treating our domestic 
animals, which is by complete amputation. This 
the Lapps do not do. With them the opera- 
tion is performed by the teeth. Thus the glands 
are bruised or crushed without breaking the skin, 
and their capacity for reproduction destroyed. 
No other mode of performing this operation 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



229 



has ever been known among the Lapps. This 
imperfect operation is probably sufficient for 
their purposes, for it so subdues the natural 
ferocity of the animal as to subject him to con- 
trol, while it leaves enough of spirit to make 
his services highly efficient. Were it carried as 
far as with us it might so destroy his energy 
as to leave him practically useless. 

That the operation as performed by them is 
only partial, is shown by the limited influence 
it has upon the growth of the antlers. So far 
as experiments have been tried on the other 
members of this family, the complete removal 
of the glands causes the antlers carried at the 
time to drop off within a few weeks at most. 
The next summer new antlers grow, but these 
never mature so as to pass out of the velvet ; 
and these never drop off, although they may be, 
and usually are, broken off, more or less, by vio- 
lence, and each summer after, something is added 
by new growth to this persistent antler, which, 
however, is scarcely sufficient to make up for 
the loss of portions broken off. All the Lapp 
testimony serves to show that generally the 
organs are not so far destroyed as to prevent 
the antlers from growing to perfection, so far as 



230 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



to be cast off and renewed annually, though gen- 
erally the growth is retarded and the maturity 
is later than with the unmutilated animal, and 
sometimes they do not mature and drop off, but 
are broken off near the head and then grow 
out the next year, as is always the case with the 
Virginia deer under similar conditions in this 
latitude. 

The great trouble I had to encounter in the 
pursuit of facts, was the want of careful observa- 
tions by those who had such great facilities for 
observing. They never dreamed that this opera- 
tion had any effect upon the growth of the ant- 
lers, and so any peculiarity of growth would not 
be attributed to that cause, and as it was a 
matter of not the least earthly moment whether 
the antler dropped off or broke off near the 
head, they would take no notice of the fact 
whether its disappearance was produced one 
way or the other. It was only in such facts as 
affected their interests directly that their obser- 
vations became reliable and valuable. 

The reindeer is the only member of the deer 
family which has ever been domesticated to any 
considerable extent, and, as such, rendered sub- 
servient to the use of man ; although another 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



231 



member, the European elk, which specifically 
corresponds with the American moose, is much 
larger and more powerful, is equally adapted to 
deep snows, and can endure a lower latitude 
than the reindeer, and in domestication would 
have supplied the place of the ox or the horse 
better. And yet we have no evidence that any 
persistent attempt has ever been made to domes- 
ticate him. I say is equally adapted to domes- 
tication, because the experiments in this country 
show that such is the case. Indeed most of the 
attempts in this country to domesticate the rein- 
deer have been utter failures, while our moose 
have been frequently domesticated and success- 
fully used in drawing loads, though never beyond 
what may be called simple experiments. We are 
told that the Scandinavian elk was in fact at one 
time there domesticated and successfully broken 
to draw loads, but whether this was done by the 
Lapps or the Goths is not stated. Certain it is 
that for some cause the experiment was aban- 
doned. I cannot help believing that the same 
persistency which has characterized the efforts 
of the Lapps to domesticate the reindeer would 
have proved at least an equal success with the 
European elk. 



232 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



We have no more means of determining when 
the reindeer was first subjected to the control 
of man than when the ox or the horse was first 
reclaimed. Both events are equally lost in an- 
tiquity. 

At all events, the domestication of the rein- 
deer in Europe has been the work of thousands 
of years, no doubt, and still he retains many of 
his wild instincts; and could we know the history 
of this work we should, I presume, find it was 
of very slow progress, and the result of patient 
effort, and probably he was selected instead of 
the elk because he was less in size and strength, 
and so more easily handled. We must not for- 
get one great advantage which he has over the 
elk, and that is, being lighter, the frozen snow 
will often sustain him while the elk would break 
through at every step, although he has less 
power to wade through it when he does sink in. 
I can learn of no attempt to domesticate and 
work the wild reindeer of the present day in 
Lapland, and I think it probable it would be as 
difficult a task as it would be to domesticate the 
reindeer of our continent, although it is said the 
Lapps sometimes manage to mingle the blood of 
the wild with their tame deer. As we have no 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



233 



people absolutely dependent on it for support, 
we may hardly hope to see the attempt made 
with either species, unless our neighbors on the 
north shall undertake it as a government enter- 
prise, for they alone possess its natural habitat, 
if we except our newly acquired domain on the 
North Pacific coast. It is a work, no doubt, 
worth national attention. 

Of all the deer family the female reindeer 
alone is provided with antlers, which, like those 
of the males of all, are shed and renewed every 
year.. This is true, not only of the European 
reindeer, but of both the American species as 
well. Indeed, the little barren-ground caribou, 
whose range is substantially within the Arctic 
Circle of America, has much the largest ant- 
lers of any of the reindeer, as well the female 
as the male. However, the antlers of the 
female in all the species and varieties of the 
reindeer are much smaller than on the male, 
and she carries them later in the season before 
she sheds them. Why it is that the female 
reindeer should be provided with antlers, to the 
exclusion of the females of all the other mem- 
bers of this great family of ruminants, which 
are represented in every quarter of the globe, 



234 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



we will not now stop to inquire, merely remark- 
ing that they occupy a colder country than any 
of the others. 

The female reindeer is not only valuable to 
the Lapp for the flesh and pelt, but she fur- 
nishes milk as well. She has however a strong 
aversion to being milked, and never becomes 
kind and docile to the Lapp milkmaid like the 
cow, but, on the contrary, will never learn to 
submit except by actual force. 

When brought up to be milked they are 
driven into a yard, and even there they have to 
be lassoed and held fast while bein^ milked. 

The quantity obtained varies in individuals, 
but one pint is rarely exceeded, and generally 
it is less. The milk is exceedingly rich, espe- 
cially in caseine. In color and consistence it 
resembles sweet cream from the cow's milk. It 
has an aromatic taste, but untutored stomachs 
can bear but a small portion at a time. It is 
rarely made into butter, which is of a white 
color and not a good quality, but it is said that 
six or eight times as much cheese may be made 
from it as from cow's milk. The Lapp cheeses 
are round and flat, about eiofht or ten inches in 
diameter, and scarcely over an inch thick, and 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



235 



so strong to the smell that I did not venture 
to taste them. Indeed I was told that the Lapps 
themselves do not habitually eat them, but use 
them principally as a remedy for chilblains and 
frost-bites. For this purpose the cheese is hung 
up before the fire, when the oil drops from it 
which is applied to the frosted part, and I have 
no doubt with excellent effect ; at least I would 
sooner see it used that way than to eat it. 
They are very oily to the touch ; indeed I 
found the • transportation of one a serious mat- 
ter, and thought at one time that I had spoiled 
a whole trunk of clothes with one, but the odor 
proved not to be very permanent. In fact the 
cheese business is not extensively pursued among 
the Lapps, but the milk of the reindeer is prin- 
cipally used in its simple form. 

Thus we see the Laplanders use the reindeer 
as a beast of draught and a beast of burthen ; it 
supplies them with both milk and flesh for food; 
its skin furnishes them with clothes from head 
to foot, and also serves for bedding and wraps 
or robes. Of the bones and antlers they inge- 
niously make various implements, both for their 
own use and for sale. It constitutes not only 
the wealth but the very existence of the mount- 



236 



A SUMMER IN XORWAY. 



ain Lapps. Without them the interior of the 
country would forever have remained uninhab- 
ited, for no other domesticated animal could 
have supplied its place. It lives and thrives in 
a practically barren country, save only certain 
lichens, without which the reindeer cannot live, 
and which here grow very abundantly. 

I have said the reindeer cannot live without 
that peculiar lichen called reindeer moss, or 
some equivalent. This I learned at the zoolog- 
ical gardens at Berlin, Cologne and Paris, 
where I found them in confinement. Here I 
saw them daily fed with this same moss, brought 
from Norway for them. Even with this they 
are short-lived in those warmer latitudes. 

It must not be understood that this is their 
exclusive food. They eat most of the grasses 
and browse besides, which is probably better* for 
them than • to be confined exclusively to the 
moss ; but with these they must have the moss. 
Nowhere on the globe, in either hemisphere, is 
the reindeer found, except where nutritious 
mosses abound, although, as already stated, 
these by no means constitute their exclusive 
diet. Perhaps none is more abundant or more 
nutritious than the reindeer moss of Norway — 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



237 



rammcuhts glaciahts — but it scarcely surpasses 
the Cladonia rangiferina, which is as truly a 
reindeer moss as the other, and flourishes most 
luxuriantly in Labrador, although it is found 
wherever the woodland caribou ranges. These 
also relish many other mosses, which are, how- 
ever, less abundant. They are fond of the tree or 
parasitic mosses which grow within their range. 

The barren grounds of our polar regions 
afford a great abundance and variety of rich 
lichens upon which the small reindeer there 
found feed, as the cornicitlarin, the divergens, 
the ochriluca, the cucullata, the istandica, and 
the cenomice rangiferina. 

We cannot but be impressed with the spe- 
cial adaptability of the reindeer to the peculiar 
food so abundant in the desolate regions which 
they inhabit, and of that peculiar food to them. 
Without tfcem, all that vegetable wealth could 
contribute nothing to the sustenance of animal 
life, for no other ruminants, if we except the 
musk ox, which nowhere abounds, can there 
resist the rigors of the climate, and no other 
class of vegetation can there grow m sufficient 
abundance to sustain any considerable amount 
of animal life. If the time shall ever come when 



238 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



the barren-ground caribou shall be extermi- 
nated — and most of our wild animals are rap- 
idly disappearing from this country — then those 
regions where he now appears in incredible 
numbers must remain uninhabited. 

When I had extracted all the information I 
could from the Lapp; he wrote his name, An- 
ders Nilsen Heika, in my note-book, and Ave 
broke up the interview. 

He was probably disgusted with my inquis- 
itiveness, though he showed no impatience, nor 
did the interpreters complain, but on the other 
hand affected quite an interest in the subject. 
During that examination, with the animal so 
close before me, and made still more critical by 
handling it, I became entirely convinced of the 
specific identity of the reindeer of Lapland and 
the woodland caribou of America, and in this 
opinion I was only confirmed by a subsequent 
examination of the wild reindeer of Norway ; 
but it would be foreign to my present purpose 
to enter upon a discussion of this question and 
assign the reasons for this conclusion, in which, 
however, I but agree with most of those who 
have compared them, though at another time I 
may be able to present, in another work I have 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



239 



in preparation — "The American Antelope and 
Deer, and their Domestication" — some analogies 
which others have not noticed, in which I shall 
also show that three of our American species 
have their analogues in Europe. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



a commercial levee; lapland thread; norwegian log 
cabin; domestic industry; luncheon; a cutler's shop; 
the universal sheath-knife, its use and cost; lapp 
encampment; a charming sail to town; location of Trom- 
so; DULL fishing; social life in towns; general gravity 
of the people; leave Tromso; monotony of perpetual day- 
light, and desire TO ESCAPE IT; THE STEAMER; SECOND VIEW 
OF THE GRAND COAST SCENERY ; THE WORKS OF NATURE AND OF 
MAN; HUMAN INSIGNIFICANCE. 

t LOOKED around after I had concluded my 
interview with the Lapp, and found the oth- 
ers of the party attending the reception of the 
lady Lapp, who was seated at the foot of a 
bunch of alders a little way off. I joined the 
party, and discovered that, like other thrifty 
ladies, she had an eye to the main chance — 
indeed she was driving a thriving trade in the 
manufacture and sale of a coarse thread from 
the sinews of the deer, such as they use in man- 
ufacturing- the skins into shoes and o;arments. 

She first stripped the tendon, when in a moist 
condition, into fine fibers like flax, and then 
from these she drew out a thread of any size 
and length she pleased. This she twisted as 

16 (241) 



242 



A SUM ME A IN JV OR WAY. 



she drew it out, with great dexterity, by rolling 
it on her cheek with her hand. This she would 
make for you, single, double or quadruple ; but 
for the latter there was little demand, as no 
one seemed ready to hang himself, and it was 
abundantly strong for that purpose. As the 
value of the article was much enhanced by 
seeing it made, it had taken some time to sup- 
ply the demand. The price was half a mark, 
or say eleven cents of our money, for a thread 
two yards long — a round price, no doubt, if sold 
in quantities, but for the small trade she was 
doing, cheap enough. She had other trinkets, 
such as the market required, and, on the whole, 
made a fair mornings work. 

At last we adjourned to the cabin of a Nor- 
wegian settler, as we would say in our western 
country. To reach this we had to go nearly 
half a mile, through boggy ground and alder- 
bushes, to the creek, which we had to cross in 
a boat, for the tide had come up and there was 
deep water where two hours before we could 
have stepped across on the stones. 

At the mouth of the creek the valley was 
broad, affording many acres of level ground, 
but it narrowed rapidly toward the mountains, 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



243 



whence the stream issued. The house was sit- 
uated on a bed of peat, of unknown depth, 
which occupied a considerable portion of the 
valley. Ditches had been cut near the house 
to render it sufficiently dry for a dwelling-place 
and a small garden. A nice crop of grass was 
growing beyond the peat-bog, and on it grasses 
peculiar to such locations. 

The house was a log-cabin, almost the exact 
counterpart of the log-cabins found on our west- 
ern frontier. It had two rooms, separated by a 
little hall, in each of which was a stove instead 
of a fireplace. One of these rooms had been 
cleaned up for our reception and looked quite 
inviting. In this were two chairs, some stools 
and a table, besides a loom at which a girl was 
weaving a piece of coarse cloth for domestic use. 
The loom was similar to that which I used to 
see in my boyhood in farmers' houses at the 
East, but which are now almost entirely banished 
from the land. Another girl was carding the 
wool into rolls and spinning it on a small 
wheel ; the cards were the same as those common 
many years ago in this country for carding tow 
and cotton, before machinery had rendered such 
excellent utensils unnecessary, and the wheel 



244 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



was nearly the same as our mothers used for 
spinning Max. All these were tried by each one 
of the party in turn, but of course with universal 
failure ; but the native girls were expert, and 
evidently enjoyed the encomiums bestowed upon 
their skill. 

We had brought a good lunch with us, which 
was supplemented by some bowls ot sour milk 
or bonny-clabber. This was a most acceptable 
relish to the Norwegians of the party, but it 
did not seem to suit our palates. It is all in 
use no doubt. This is a favorite and may be 
said to be a national dish in Norway. 

I have lost the name of this family, which 
I much regret. Close by was a small log 
blacksmith's shop, or rather cutlery, where the 
old gentleman of the establishment cunningly 
fabricated sheath-knives. 

Now, every male Norwegian and Lapp above 
six years old must be furnished with a sheath- 
knife, suspended from a belt and hanging over 
his left hip. This universal personal appendage 
they call tol-kniv. This at first impresses the 
stranger that he is in dangerous companionship, 
and that a bloody fray may occur every hour 
of the day. But nothing could be further from 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



245 



the truth. They are really a very peaceable 
and amiable people. During all my travels in 
Norway I saw scarcely an approach to a personal, 
much less a sanguinary, use of this formidable 
looking knife. It is carried in place of the 
pocket-knife with us, and is used only for the 
purposes to which the pocket-knife is applied. 
Besides, it is considered ornamental, and is worn 
for show as well. Indeed, without it the Nor- 
wegian of either high or low degree would con- 
sider himself only partly dressed. Hence these 
knives are made of various grades of finish 
and ornamentation, with corresponding prices 
A good serviceable knife, such as will satisfy 
the ambition of the fisherman, may be bought 
for two marks (say forty-five cents), while if 
one is disposed to be extravagant he can gratify 
his taste to almost any extent in the purchase 
of a knife. 

Now, it was the business of that old gentle- 
man to make these knives, and he had a good 
assortment on hand, and drove a thriving busi- 
ness that day. The one I got cost me two 
dollars, and was one of his best. The blade is 
five inches long and three-fourths of an inch 
broad, and is sharp pointed ; it is heavy and 



246 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



strong, and probably is well tempered. The 
handle is of walrus ivory, with a silver band 
at each end elaborately chased. The sheath is 
of iron and very thin, well polished and richly 
enchased on the outside. The chasing is remark- 
able considering the pretensions of the workman, 
and surprised an expert who was one of our 
party. These sheath-knives are always kept in 
stock in all the trading establishments. 

Of course the Lapp encampment had to be 
visited. That was in a canon two miles back. 
We had brought three saddles with us, and had 
engaged some ponies. I gave up my pony and 
saddle to a lady of another party, so that but 
two of my party visited the camp. The road 
was represented as very wet and rugged, as the 
snows were now melting rapidly. I consoled 
myself exploring the country near by and — - 
cutting my thumb. 

In about two hours the party returned from 
the Lapp camp, and we at once prepared for 
our departure. But here we met with a serious 
difficulty. No one was disposed to state the 
amount of the reckoning. The orirls referred it 
to the good mother, she referred it to the old 
gentleman in the cutlery, and he referred it back 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



to the girls, and how many times those maidens 
rushed from the house to the shop and back I 
dare not try to state. At last, however, we got 
an intimation, which was ridiculously cheap, and 
by doubling it received many benedictions. 

Since the tide had come up, our boat had 
been brought around into the creek, so we did 
not have to be packed on board, but took the 
boat without great difficulty. So soon as we 
got out of the creek and fairly into the fjord, 
we found a nice little breeze, and fair, so our 
sails were set and we sped along at a dancing 
rate. 

What is more charming than a quick run 
in a sail-boat in still waters ? Here the fjord 
was so narrow that there was no room for the 
breeze to ruffle the water seriously. We had a 
delightful run home, where we arrived in eood 
time for dinner, for which our excursion had 
given us excellent appetites. This was one of 
the pleasantest as well as most instructive ex- 
cursions I made during our stay at Tromso. 

I have already remarked that Tromso is the 
capital, or, I should rather say, the metropolis, 
of Finmark, which is but another term for Nor- 
wegian Lapland, and is the largest city both in 



248 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



population and commerce within the Arctic Cir- 
cle. It is on the east side of an island — the 
terminal letter (6) in the name of a place indi- 
cates in the Norwegian language an island, 
or on an island, and so conveniently saves 
much explanation. It is very pleasantly situated, 
the lower part upon undulating ground high 
above the water, while the back streets of the 
city are on the side-hill, or lead to steep emi- 
nences which afford some very beautiful pros- 
pects. There are uninclosed grass-plats about the 
city and in its vicinity, upon which sheep and 
other stock may be seen grazing. There are 
many nice gardens in cultivation which give it 
a cheering aspect, while, as in almost every place 
in Norway, a great profusion of pot flowers 
may be seen in the windows of the houses. 

They have several fine wharves extending 
from the street into the bay, but not far enough 
to allow sea-eoino^ vessels to reach them at low 
tide. 

I have before commented upon this strange 
inconvenience to commerce everywhere in Nor- 
way, and could get no explanation of it, than that 
it would cost money to extend them ; although 
when once done they would be perfectly secure 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



249 



from rough weather and would not be liable to 
fill up with shifting sands. 

Our fishing excursions were not generally very 
successful, as it was the dull season for fishing, 
although quite a number of fishermen's boats 
were constantly seen in the fjord. They must 
work whether it pays or not, for that is their 
daily business. 

The social relations here are excellent. With 
good facilities for ascertaining the facts, I learned 
that the towns and cities of Norway are not 
quite exempt from that tattling, gossiping, back- 
biting disposition which sometimes renders a 
residence in towns of the same size in other 
countries very unpleasant. People do sometimes 
take upon themselves the care of their neigh- 
bors' concerns, and so have less time to attend 
to their own affair's than they otherwise might ; 
still the social relations of the citizens are pleas- 
ant in town as well as in the country. The 
young people have their assemblies, the old 
ladies their tea-parties, and the burghers their 
meetings to discuss public affairs over their 
pipes and interchange views in general. 

On the whole, however, the Norwegians are 
rather a grave people, not given to practical 



250 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



jokes, to story-telling, fun and laughter. Even 
the frolics of the young people, which they no 
doubt enjoy, have a certain air of gravity which 
their tastes and sense of decorum demand. A 
kindly feeling seems to pervade the whole com- 
munity, which a little propensity to what we call 
tattling does not seem to destroy. Truthful- 
ness and integrity in their ordinary intercourse 
seem to be ingrain. 

Four days sufficed to do Tromso and its envi- 
rons, and so we packed our trunks and bid fare- 
well, probably for the last time, to the arctic 
city, got into the little boat in the evening and 
pulled away to the steamer Trondhjem, which 
had arrived the morning before, bound south. I 
say in the evening, but it was so only in name, 
or rather hour, for the sun was still shining 
down upon us in full vigor all night long, so 
that so far as light can serve to make the day, 
it was all day — there was neither evening nor 
morning, but day always. I confess that this 
unchanging light — this continual brightness at 
all times the same, except dimmed by clouds, 
had already become monotonous. The midnight 
sun had lost its novelty, and with it its charm. 
The gorgeous colorings of the long streaky 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



251 



clouds, rich and beautiful beyond description, 
which more than at other times hung around 
him at midnight, and shaded the tints upon the 
mountains, and which would sometimes make the 
snow upon them look as if they were molten 
lava ready to burst upon and devastate the val- 
leys beneath, and then as if by magic assume 
another hue and then another, like a rapidly 
shifting scene, could never lose its quickening 
charm and its enchanting beauty ; but after all 
we longed ' for darkness and for night. Do 
what we could to darken the windows to keep 
out the light, still it was not night as nature 
makes it, and which the habit of a lifetime had 
rendered necessary to sound repose. Artificial 
darkness, especially when incomplete, is as far 
from night as artificial light is from day. What 
we now desired was, a good long, sound sleep 
in a natural night, and not the less perfect rest 
in the sombre shade of curtained windows. We 
therefore went on board the Trondhjem, which 
would take us below the Arctic Circle and 
beyond the confines of perpetual day, without 
regret. We thought that even an hour's dark- 
ness would be a great relief, and this we hoped 
soon to reach. I may say here, however, that 



252 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



we never knew in fact when we did reach this, 
for it so happened that for the first ten days 
and more after we passed the Polar Circle we 
slept through the short time of darkness without 
seeing it. We went to sleep and awakened with 
the broad light of day still shining fiercely out- 
side, to all appearance the same as when in the 
far north. 

By ten o'clock our steamer weighed anchor, 
and quietly glided along the fjord among the 
little fleet of fishing-boats which dotted its 
surface. 

The Trondhjem was a much larger vessel 
than the Hakon-Jarl, and belonged to the 
Christiana line and to another company ; but as 
stated, I found that the return tickets which I 
had taken on the Hamburgh steamer were good 
here. The terminal point of this line is Tromso, 
so that north of this point there is but a weekly 
steamer, while south of it there are two each 
week. The ladies' state-room was below in the 
darkest part of the ship, and I doubt not they 
slept the better for it, while for the gentlemen, 
we had to take the narrow shelves or seats in 
the dining-saloon ; nevertheless we slept very 
well, and that was enough. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



253 



In the morning when I went on deck I found 
we were passing along the same route we had 
pursued on our way north, but enjoyed a second 
view of the grand wild scenery almost as much 
as if it were entirely new. 

The American reader is apt to associate the 
term wild scenery or wild country with a new 
or lately peopled country, where the hand of 
man has not yet had time or opportunity to 
destroy the natural features or native beauties 
impressed upon it by its Maker's hand. Here 
these beauties and these features remain, not 
for the lack of time, but because man is too 
weak to deface them, and so they remain in 
their grand sublimity through the thousands of 
years during which man has been playing around 
them. He can never tear down or even deface 
these huge rocky monuments thrown up by con- 
vulsed nature in primeval time before man was. 
He can never melt away the eternal snows which 
have for untold ages mantled the far-off mount- 
ain tops, or dissolve the glistening glaciers, which 
with slow but resistless course creep down the 
great chasms in the mountain sides, and waste 
themselves in turbid torrents in the lower val- 



254 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



leys.* These scenes are wild because man can- 
not tame them. Could he, he would have defaced 
them long ago, and substituted the results of his 
own puny efforts, to which in vain pride he would 
have pointed, and said with feeble voice, " Look 
there!" Vain man! what art thou, ever dressed 
in swaddling clothes, to presume that thou canst 
rival the works of Him who made thee? Canst 
thou uplift mountains — canst thou divide the 
seas — canst thou make a vast firmament like 
the starry heavens ? Shrink away abashed in 
the presence of Him who made thee and these. 
Acknowledge thy littleness, and be content to 
know that thou canst only remotely imitate that 
which only an almighty hand can make, and ask 
none to admire thy abortive works who may gaze 
entranced upon the nobler works of God. 

* North of Bodo is a glacier said to be one hundred miles long, and 
of enormous width. There are numerous other smaller glaciers in 
arctic Norway. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



The Lofoden islands, their number, size and location; the 
Maelstrom; island scenery ; the inhabitants, virtue, tem- 
perance and industry; the women, able-bodied and good- 
looking; GENERAL CLEANLINESS; THE JOURNEY AMONG THE 

islands; dangerous navigation ; authority of captain and 
pilot; pass Bodo; leave the Arctic Circle; Norwegian 
fjords and lakes; recollections of the journey; reach 
Trondhjem. 

AFTER we passed Lodengen we entered the 
Vest Fjorden, which is the great bay or 
fjord which separates the archipelago along the 
mainland from the Lofoden islands, and bore 
away to the west to visit that celebrated group. 

These islands lie entirely within the Arctic 
Circle, and constitute a feature of the Norwe- 
gian coast which reminds one of the Alueten 
islands on our Alaskan coast, although of course 
less in extent and more than ten degrees f U r- 
ther north. They are even north of Behring's 
Strait, which is below the Arctic Circle. It was 
only by these comparisons that we could really 
appreciate how far north we were. 

These islands are projected from the coast 

about the sixty-ninth degree north latitude, and 

(255) 



256 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



gradually diverge from it in a direction south 
of west, jutting far out into the North Atlantic, 
the largest and the most easterly of which is 
Hindo, which is only separated from the conti- 
nent by a comparatively narrow strait at Sand- 
torv, a snug- little hamlet situate on the island. 

This group of islands has the appearance of 
a great peninsula, broad at the base and grad- 
ually tapering to the point, traversed by innu- 
merable narrow channels, more abundant toward 
the west, so that the islands gradually diminish 
in size toward the extremity of the group. The 
apparent peninsula seems to terminate with Mos- 
kenoe, which is a long narrow island and ends in 
a bald cape, upon which the angry waves of the 
Atlantic have expended their fury for untold 
ages, and so they may do for as long a time 
in the future before they will beat it down and 
bury its fragments beneath their agitated sur- 
face. 

Separated from this by Lofododden Strait 
ten miles broad, is the isolated island of Vcero, 
upon which stands the fishing hamlet of Sor- 
land. Nearly midway in this strait a huge 
naked rock, which might be fairly called an 
island, lifts itself above the waters, breasting 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



257 



the conflicting currents caused by the winds 
and tides. Between this rock, and the cape on 
Moskence, is the famous Maelstrom, which fer- 
tile imaginations have clothed with so many 
terrors. Its geographical position is such as to 
expose it to fierce tidal currents, and when 
these are assisted by high westerly winds they 
are, no doubt, terrific. The bottom of the strait 
is strewn with immense boulders, which are so 
arranged as to give the current a spiral motion 
directed toward this isolated rock from the 
northern side, which is much increased in times 
of high tides and storms, when it whirls quite 
around the island-rock. Then it is that it be- 
comes really difficult for boats and vessels, with- 
out steam power, to keep clear of the rocks 
against which the wayward currents would dash 
them. 

While there are at times vast and powerful 
eddies which give objects floating upon them a 
fearful spiral motion, there is nothing like a 
vortex produced by a subterranean discharge 
of the water, although the tumbling and boil- 
ing character of the spiral currents may sub- 
merge temporarily objects drifting on the surface. 

No doubt in the course of time the action 
17 



258 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



of the waters has tended to level down the bed 
rocks, some of which we may presume showed 
themselves above the surface. This may have 
made the Maelstrom much more terrific than it 
is now, and better justified the ancient fables. 
As it is in ordinary times, and in favorable 
weather, the fishermen do not hesitate to seek 
for fares throughout these waters, which, to 
strangers, are suggestive of the most terrific 
dangers. Still outside and twenty miles to the 
southwest of Vcero, is a nest of rocky islets, the 
principal of which is Rost, but mostly beyond 
the view of the ordinary routes of local travel. 
These are the farthest out to sea of all the 
Norwegian islands, and are the last land left on 
the way from the Lofodens to Iceland, which is 
far away to the southwest. Around these out- 
lying rocks are said to be favorite fishing- 
grounds, which the hardy fishermen profitably 
visit even in the long night of winter, as well 
as in the perpetual day of summer. These are 
the last sad remnants of that great rocky barrier 
which, geologists tell us, once in a bold contin- 
uous and defiant line presented its hard face to 
the rough salute of the sea beyond, and which 
by the elements and time, and probably ter- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



259 



restrial convulsions, has been broken into frag- 
ments which now constitute the islands as we 
see them. 

The general characteristics of the scenery of 
these islands correspond with that of much of 
the mainland coast, though in general it may be 
said to be bolder, and in a given distance more 
high and snow-clad peaks come into view. The 
highest and roughest appear at the northeastern 
end of the group, where from a distant view 
they seem to form a connection with the coast 
islands and the mainland. On looking back, 
when crossing the fjord, and twenty miles away, 
the long line of mountain peaks looks like the 
edge of a saw with many of the teeth broken 
out, growing less and less prominent toward 
the southwest end. The interior of the islands 
is practically uninhabitable. They are mountains 
altogether ; many, above the line of perpetual 
snow, and where the topography would admit 
of settlement, they lack the soil to invite it, and 
the cold bleak winds, if not the snow itself, 
forbid settlements in the interior. 

Along the coast there are some pretty little 
nooks with green grass plats, in which are always 
found as many fisher-huts as can well be accom- 



260 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



modated. These, like others already described, 
are made of flattened logs or poles, painted red 
and roofed with earth on birch-bark sheeting. 
They always looked cozy and home-like, and 
suggested by their appearance secluded content- 
ment and domestic happiness far away from the 
strifes and turmoil of the outer world, where 
man is ever at war with man in the pursuit of 
glittering phantoms which ambition is ever pre- 
senting, or grasping for gold which never satis- 
fies. Who shall doubt that here is more real 
contentment, with fewer cares and anxieties, than 
in more favored lands, as we call them, where 
artificial wants swallow up the fruits of richer 
products and are still unsatisfied. The little 
garden by the hut and the birch-bark flower 
pots ranged by the door or standing in the 
window tell us, too, that there is a certain 
degree of refinement there, which contradicts the 
idea of that rough rudeness which we are apt 
to associate with the hardy fishermen whose 
daughters as well as sons are strong at the oar 
and skillful at the fishing-line. 

It was easy to understand the pictures drawn 
by those familiar with their inner social life, of 
the joyous hilarity of their neighborhood gather- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



261 



ings, more usual in the winter season, when the 
young people congregate and pass the time in 
dancing and plays, diversified by the older peo- 
ple with stories drawn from the old legends 
and mythical traditions when giants peopled the 
mountains and mermaids and sea-serpents the 
waters. 

If the manners of the people are rude, as 
compared with the refinements of city life, they 
are no more so than that of the peasantry of 
other countries, and they are certainly not licen- 
tious, so far as I was enabled to collect evidence 
on the subject. All were well dressed according 
to their condition in life, and there was an air 
of high self-respect and independence in marked 
contrast to the bearing of the populations of 
many other countries of Europe in the same 
condition of life. Though always courteous in 
the extreme, there was not the least trace of 
sycophancy which is so plainly indicative of a 
people oppressed in some form or other by a 
superior class. 

Nor did I see the least evidence of that 
intemperance of which others have spoken so 
confidently. I did not see a drunken man in 
Norway, except a Lapp, and I cannot say that 



262 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



of any^ other country in which I have traveled 
so far and made so many stops. If intemper- 
ance was formerly prevalent among this people, 
it is the most remarkable instance of a total 
reformation to be anywhere met with within my 
knowledge, and it would be well worth so long 
a journey for those who have a reformation in 
this direction so much at heart, to study the 
mode by which so great a change has been 
wrought. Even the light beer of the country is 
not used except to a limited extent. I fre- 
quently saw this peasant class in great crowds, 
upon the boat, and carefully studied them for 
hours together, and always found them quiet 
and orderly, courteous and kind to each other 
in their own unpolished way. 

The men are stout, robust fellows, evidently 
capable of great endurance, and laziness is cer- 
tainly not one of their attributes. Their features 
are rough and hardy but are not ill-formed, 
while they are not, as a general rule, handsome 
men. The women are rather stout bodies, full- 
chested, and well developed, and apparently 
about as strong as the men. I saw them pick 
up boxes and other packages and handle them 
in a way that showed they were quite inde- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



263 



pendent of the men, who stood about with an 
indifference which showed a total absence of 
that sense of gallantry which, with us, arises 
from a supposed superior physical strength in 
the sterner sex ; and yet when either a woman 
or a man was seen tugging to get a package 
on board, which was too heavy a lift for one 
person, plenty of willing hands would rush up 
to render needed assistance, and yet this assist- 
ance would be just as likely to come from the 
woman as . the man. Their whole intercourse 
seemed to recognize this physical capacity of 
the women, and probably anything which would 
suggest any lack in this regard would have been 
regarded, by one of those strapping girls, as an 
affront to her womanhood, and would have 
required an apology from the unlucky swain 
chargeable with the offense. 

These women are good-looking, but not hand- 
some according to our standard of beauty. Their 
hands are broad and strong, which, must result 
from so much pulling at the oars, as I judge 
they practice from what I saw, and their coun- 
tenances are bronzed, in summer-time at least, 
from so much exposure ; but if vigorous health, 
a plump contour, well-developed muscles and 



264 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



strong limbs are admitted as elements of beauty, 
then, indeed, this is a land of angelic loveliness. 

But I saw many handsome women, and hand- 
some men too, in Norway, according to the 
approved standard in any country. Those who 
spend their lives in-doors, and many are to be 
met with in the larger towns, have very fair com- 
plexions, with fine symmetrical features, which 
added to a glow of health make them pos- 
itively handsome, so that they will fairly rank 
above the average in more southern countries. 

I failed to find that degrading filth among 
this people by which some other travelers claim 
to have been so much disgusted, as well as the 
licentiousness which they found so prevalent A 
fisherman or woman cannot be expected to go 
in broadcloth or silk, nor is the cleaning and 
curing fish a neat occupation, and we might 
expect that this would, to a certain extent, stamp 
itself upon the habits and tastes of the people 
engaged in it ; but those I came in contact with 
were not disgustingly filthy, nor were the fishing 
class scrupulously clean. Those huts which I 
entered I found about on a par with the cabins 
of the peasantry of other countries, which I have 
nowhere found universally swept and garnished. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



265 



Those of other callings met in towns and cities I 
found habitually neat and clean. The children 
which I met in Bodo, as already stated, were 
clean and neatly clad, even more so than the 
average children of the high and low to be met 
with in the towns and cities in other countries. 
I went into a number of cabins where I saw 
children at the windows, to give them candy, and 
found the children with clean faces and decently 
clad, and in every instance, where the child was 
old enough to talk, it offered its right hand, 
which is their mode of expressing thanks. Some 
of these were fishermen's huts, and still it was 
all the same. I confess that our own children 
are not so well trained in what we may call 
manners., as I found those of all classes in Nor- 
way, nor can they claim anything on the score 
of cleanliness over those of the same walks of 
life there. 

The higher classes were always well and taste- 
fully dressed and scrupulously clean. In their 
houses, so far as we entered' them, in their 
offices, their stores and their shops, there was 
nothing to complain of and nothing to desire 
on the score of cleanliness, and the same may 
be said of their streets. 



266 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



We were more fortunate than some others 
seem to have been in the selection of our hotels, 
for nowhere in Norway did we find a dirty 
room, a dirty bed, a dirty tablecloth or napkin, 
or dirty dishes, or dirty waiters. This was a 
subject of constant observation among our party, 
and I thought that some of us were quite as 
fastidious as it is necessary to be to insure a 
pleasant journey. This is true not only in the 
towns and cities of Norway, but it is also true 
of the stations alonor- the country roads where 
we traveled. There are wide differences, no 
doubt, in the quality of the entertainment to be 
had at these stopping places, but it is conspic- 
uous in other elements than cleanliness. 

We frequently compared notes with other 
travelers we met in Norway, on this subject, 
and found the observations of all to correspond 
with our own. 

As I did not travel back in the country, 
among the bonde or agricultural peasantry in 
Norway, of course I cannot speak of their 
habits as to cleanliness. Back from the public 
highways, to which my observations were con- 
fined, the people may be filthy, but if so, we did 
not find any evidence of it among the same 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



267 



class of people who keep the station-houses 
along- these roads. 

For the Lapps I have nothing to say in this 
regard, but have already spoken in reprobation 
of their uncleanliness, and have sometimes sus- 
pected that some persons have confounded the 
Norwegians and Lapps, or thought they saw 
filthy Norwegians when they saw dirty Lapps. 

After skirting alone the southeast coast of 
the islands and stopping to land or take on 
passengers -and freight at each hamlet on the 
way, we finally turned our backs upon them 
and sang: 

Farewell to The Lofoden Isles, 

We have seen you in tears and in smiles, 

and bore away almost due south toward Bodo, 
heading directly for the west end of Landegod. 

We had been so lone sailing in sheltered 
waters, that a prospect of a three hours' run 
across the fjord, which, with a southwest wind 
rushing from the Atlantic into its broad open 
mouth, has almost as bad a reputation as the 
North Sea itself, made us inquire of the captain, 
who was always as obliging and courteous as 
possible, as to the prospect of the weather. He 
looked about him wisely, and then declared it 



268 



SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



was all right. The sky had become overcast, it 
was true, and looked dark and even angry, but 
the frown was in the north, and from there we 
might expect some more wind, but we should 
be under the lee of the islands, and should not 
feel it. " But," said he, pointing in the direction 
of the Maelstrom, " let a gale come in from that 
direction once, and it would curtail the steward's 
bills for this night's aftensmad? The shower 
which had succeeded the bright sun of the fore- 
noon had expended itself mostly on the high- 
land, but a breeze had come up which was 
freshing. Our apprehensions, however, that it 
might blow so as to make our position uncom- 
fortable proved groundless, and we really had a 
very fine sail across the fjord. Indeed by the 
time we came within a few miles of the coast 
islands, the wind died out, the clouds dispersed, 
and we had as beautiful an evening sun as we 
had seen within the Arctic Circle. 

As we moved alone, the hieh islands to the 
east of us seemed to be constantly changing 
position, and the reflections of the sun from 
their bald heads, or grassy or shrubby sides, 
were constantly varying; sometimes one would 
throw a shade upon another, leaving a dark sec- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



269 



tion on either side, of which the most brilliant 
colors would be sent back. But the view was 
momentary, when it would be thrown out of 
sight and new vistas would open and new beau- 
ties were unfolded, and so were we treated to a 
moving panorama the most grand and beautiful 
it is possible to conceive. What with the lights 
and shades and shifting scenes, it was the most 
gorgeous display I saw in Norway, and, I may 
add, have ever seen. 

While admiring this grand view, I noticed 
that the course of the ship was changed more 
to the east, so as to take us on the east side 
of Landegod. The captain went immediately to 
the pilot, and I saw they were in an earnest 
conversation, which did not appear to me much 
like a conference. Soon the captain seemed to 
almost drag the pilot to his room on deck, where 
he unrolled the chart and pointed at parts of it 
quickly, and spoke sharply and rapidly. This 
continued for perhaps two minutes, when the 
pilot came out as quickly as his sluggish nature 
would permit — he seemed incapable of any ex- 
citement — and changed the course more westerly 
than before, but when we had reached within 
half a mile of the island, she was brought around 



270 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



sharp to the east, and entered the inner channel 
east of the island. 

After we had got inside, I questioned the cap- 
tain as to the character of the navigation of the 
fjord. He informed me that in general the water 
is excellent, but there are some sunken reefs 
along near the islands, and it was to avoid one 
of these that he had insisted on the pilot's keep- 
ing further west than he had chosen. I then 
inquired whether the pilot had the right to con- 
trol the course of the vessel ? " Yes," said he, 
" theoretically he has, but no pilot shall run me 
on the rocks, if I know it, while I command the 
ship. I piloted here while he was catching cod- 
fish. There are many sunken rocks, some of 
which are not well marked on the chart, and 
my business is to keep clear of them, whether 
the pilot would avoid them or not. Suppose 
he is running me right on that island, am I to 
stand still and see him do it ? There may be 
exceptional cases of which owners do not think 
when they make their general rules, and this 
was one. Had he refused to follow my judg- 
ment, I would have deposed him and done it 
myself. He thought we had passed the rocks 
when he changed her course and headed her 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



271 



rio-ht to them," and he really became excited 
ao-ain. But we were now safe inside, and all 
was going on smoothly. 

The most remarkable feature connected with 
this really dangerous coast, which is navigated 
through the long night of winter, is the entire 
absence of light-houses, where any other mari- 
time power would have had hundreds. There 
are a very few low monuments, painted white, 
used for the purpose of light-houses, but I did 
not see more than four of these on the whole 
coast, and I was told that there is the same want 
on the outer side of the islands, where it is 
much more urgent, to enable vessels coming in 
from the sea, especially strangers, to make a 
safe entry. They may beat about for an indefi- 
nite time, on the dangerous coast, waiting for a 
pilot, or take the risk of being wrecked trying to 
feel their way in. Even a few at the principal 
entries would be a great help, but if there are 
any, I could not learn it. The want of them 
must vastly advance insurance* 

* Since writing the above I have been told by a gentleman fa- 
miliar with the coast, that there are several light-houses along our 
route, but as they are built like other houses, and painted yellow, 
they escape the notice of the traveler. He also informs me that 
there are several of the first order on the outside coast. Our pilot 
did not mention this when questioned on the subject. 



272 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



In the course of the evening we dropped 
anchor before Bodo ; but a twinge in the loin 
on the left side reminded me that I had no 
business on shore there, and admonished me 
especially to avoid Bodo boats and Bodo boys 
in charge of them ; so I turned in for as g;ood 
a sleep as I might anticipate on the narrow 
settee, where I could not turn one way or the 
other without help, and in perpetual sunlight, 
which had now become more and more monot- 
onous. 

In the course of the following 1 morning we 
passed the island of Hestmandd, or Horseman's 
Island, which has already been mentioned on 
our way north. It has, perhaps, more interest 
to the traveler from the fact that the Arctic 
Circle passes over it, and so serves as an ever- 
enduring monument to mark that important geo- 
graphical point, than from the romantic legend 
connected with it. 

Of course all were on deck to study the sur- 
roundings, and the captain amused himself vastly 
by endeavoring to make the green ones see the 
imaginary line down the face of the mountain, 
or the Arctic Circle, as it wound around the 
highest peak. It was a great thing to tell, when 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



273 



they should get home, that they had seen the 

Arctic Circle, and so they did see it, as plainly 

as if one of the ancient giants had drawn a great 

charcoal line across the mountain, which had 

ever since remained distinct. It is wonderful 

how much travelers can see if they will but 

open their eyes wide enough. 

But we were running rapidly along, and soon 

the arctic world was left behind. We were 

below 66 c 30' 15", and yet we did not suffer 

from the heat so soon as we passed from the 

frigid zone ! The snow had greatly disappeared 

since our passage north, still it was abundant 

everywhere on the higher ground, but the most 

astonishing feature was the increase of vegeta- 
ns o 

tion which was everywhere apparent. 

For some time longer we pursued our old 
course, and then turned sharply to the left and 
took a due-east course up a fjord which took 
us directly in among the mountains, whose pre- 
cipitous walls bounded the waters, each head- 
land passed presenting new scenery, only more 
grand and imposing than that which we had 
left behind. 

These Norwegian fjords are long, narrow bays, 

which seem to occupy great clefts in the mount- 

18 



274 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



ains, through which the tides set sometimes 
with fearful violence, where partial obstructions 
are met. 

The lakes in Norway present similar geo- 
graphical and topographical features. They are 
scattered through the mountains in long, nar- 
row crevices which seem to have been opened 
by internal forces, or great convulsions which 
burst the mountains asunder, leaving great 
chasms with nearly vertical walls. Into these 
the mountain streams discharge themselves, and 
being thus filled with water, constitute these 
long, narrow lakes, of great depth generally, and 
many of them high above the level of the sea. 
Many of these are connected by rivers, forming 
a chain of lakes reaching far back into the 
country. This is more conspicuously the case 
on the Swedish side of the mountains, where 
the distance to the sea gives a longer sweep for 
the drainage. All these lakes abound in fish, 
which enables the Lapps to enjoy a varied diet. 

Hemnsesbjerg, though not yet at the head of 
the fjord, was the extent of our eastern course. 
Thence we returned till we touched our old 
route, when almost immediately we left it again 
and skirted along on the east side of a large 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



275 



island, and then crossed it again and run out to 
the west of it. Indeed more than half the way 
on our return voyage was over new ground, pre- 
senting new views and new towns for our study. 

Were I to stop and describe every new im- 
pression and new scene in this wild country, it 
would become intolerably tedious ; it would seem 
but a repetition of what had gone before, and 

there is a lack of language to follow the ever- 
ts o 

varying shades, and no description can present 
the object to the mind as it impresses when 
looked upon. Describe it as we may, in the 
reader's mind it is run together and becomes 
confused, and a sameness pervades the whole, 
while he who sees it so individualizes the feat- 
ures that each new scene has its peculiar beau- 
ties, and leaves its peculiar stamp upon the 
memory, which it is true may fade and become 
faint in time, at least in many of its peculiari- 
ties, still, going over them again, as I have now, 
is, in fact, enjoying the journey anew. 

He who would enjoy travel to the utmost 
and to the greatest profit, must not only see as 
far as, possible all that comes within his view, 
but he must ruminate over it and digest it, so 
that it will stay by him and become a part of 



276 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



memory itself. The oftener the mind runs back 
over the incidents of the day, the week or the 
month, the oftener will he enjoy the journey 
again, and the more it becomes fixed in the 
mind, arid so may he often be delighted with 
the pleasing recollections. The quicker he for- 
gets the annoyances, the vexations and all the 
unpleasant features, no doubt the better, but in 
spite of himself these are sure to come up too 
often, but then he must stand it as he had to 
do at the first. 

On the fourth day from Tromso we reached 
Trondhjem in the afternoon, after an absence of 
over three weeks, which has left as many pleas- 
ing impressions on my mind as any journey I 
have ever made. I found no Yosemite Valley 
there, and nothing which can be justly compared 
with it, nor have I elsewhere, but for the great 
extent of varied, grand and beautiful scenery, I 
have nowhere met the equal. 

But it was not in the scenery alone that I 
was interested in arctic Norway. The people, 
their habits, their industries, their social relations, 
their mental endowments, their advancement, their 
religion, and their institutions, all have elements 
of interest worthy the study of the observant 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



277 



traveler ; and then the capabilities of the land 
and of the water must not be overlooked, for 
they are the great questions which determine 
the habitable qualities of a country. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Attempted imposition; 1 resist and defeat it; American 

WEAKNESS IN SUCH MATTERS; THE LANDLORD; CONTINUED 
RAIN, AND NO DARKNESS YET; ENVIRONS OF TRONDHJEM ; COM- 
FORTABLE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE; MODE OF CURING HAY; 

Norwegian scythe; women in the fields; overland trav- 
el; LEGAL REGULATIONS; THE CARRIOLE SYSTEM; THE VEHICLE 
AND HARNESS; ENGAGE A CARRIAGE FOR MY PARTY; THE CON- 
TRACT, AND ARRANGEMENTS; LEAVE TRONDHJEM ; THE RAILWAY 

to Storen; Norwegian strawberries; Storen. 

WE landed at Trondhjem, and went to the 
Hotel d'Angleterre, where I had rooms 
engaged. I had sent our baggage from the 
wharf to the hotel on one of those little carts, 
and was soon waited upon by the clerk, who 
spoke English imperfectly, who stated that the 
man with the cart wanted six marks for bring- 
ing up the trunks. As we had paid but a mark 
and a half for taking the same luggage to the 
steamer, I asked him if that was not too much. 
He said it was, but that was the man's price. 
I then told him to tell the landlord to pay 
him a reasonable price and no more. He paid 
him the six marks. The next day the drayman 
called with a claim of six marks for bringing 

(279) 



280 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



my baggage to the hotel on our first arrival 
from the Tasso. I now saw that the reputation 
of American travelers, which is to pay every 
claim for services, no matter how extortionate, 
without remonstrance, rather than to have a fuss, 
for fear they might be thought little, had even 
reached Norway, and I resolved to 'fight it out 
on that line, if it took me all summer', as a mat- 
ter of principle. 

Hattram, my interpreter, had stopped at 
Leuvik to visit his father, who lived at his 
native place far up the fjord. He had made 
the bargain with the boatman to bring us from 
the ship and our baggage to the hotel for six 
marks, which he had paid. Now as he was not 
here to prove the bargain, this claim was set 
up. I asked the cartman why he had not pre- 
sented the claim before I had left ; but I could 
get no satisfactory answer to this. I refused to 
pay it. He came the next day and insisted that 
the boatman had not paid him. We got up a 
nice little scene, and several gentlemen who could 
speak English better than the clerk, took an 
interest in the matter and acted at first as 
interpreters, and then as advocates, and then as 
advisers, and insisted that it was a clear case 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



281 



of imposition, which was a disgrace to their 
country, and that I should not pay a shilling. I 
requested him to find the boatman and bring 
him, and if he had not paid him I would make 
him do so. The next day he brought the boat- 
man, and in two minutes I saw it was a put 
up job between them. 

I asked him if he had paid that man for 
bringing up that baggage. After much hesita- 
tion he said he had not. I asked him if Hat- 
tram did not pay him six marks for me. He 
said he did. Then did he not agree, for the 
six marks, to bring us ashore and deliver the 
baggage to the hotel ? Hesitatingly he said no. 
Then what was the six marks paid for? Only 
for bringing us from the ship to the wharf, was 
the reply, which was obtained after much press- 
ing and much evasion. I then asked if that 
was the price he charged Hattram for that ser- 
vice. At last he said it was. I then asked him 
how much the law allowed him for bringing four 

o <_> 

passengers and four packages in the boat. He 
did not seem to know. I then asked if that 
was not the number he brought for me, and he 
admitted it was. I then asked him if the law 
did not fix his fare at four shillings for each 



282 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



passenger and two skillings for each trunk, and 
he finally admitted that it was so. I then asked 
him if all that did not come to twenty-four 
skillings, or one mark, and he at last assented 
to this obvious fact. I then asked him why he 
had charged me six marks for a service for 
which the law only allowed him one, and from 
that time on not another word could be got out 
of his mouth. 

I put this interview into writing, and got the 
landlord, who had acted as interpreter, to put 
his name to it. I then told the fellow that un- 
less he paid the drayman to his full satisfaction, 
I would see that he was prosecuted. I then 
asked him if he would do so, and finally, with 
great reluctance, he promised he would. So 
ended this interview, which I supposed would 
be the last of it. 

The matter had become noised abroad, and 
several citizens, whose acquaintance I had made, 
expressed much regret and mortification that it 
had occurred, and declared that it was the first 
instance in which they had heard of that kind 
of extortion attempted upon travelers. One, in 
particular, in the book-store — I wish I knew his 
name — desired me to furnish him with the facts, 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



283 



and he would take it upon himself to see that 
the matter should be prosecuted to the bitter 
end, and the disgraceful practice nipped in the 
bud, for he felt the honor of the place and coun- 
try was involved. I promised to do so if I heard 
any more of it. 

The next day my drayman came back, and 
said the boatman would only give him a mark 
and a half, and wanted me to pay him more. 
Now, although the fee of the drayman is not 
fixed by law' as is that of the boatman, yet 1 
had already learned that a mark and a half was 
a fair price for the service, and he was only dis- 
satisfied that the boatman had not divided with 
him the extortion. I then told him to begone, 
as I should pay him no more. 

I added this to the former statement, and 
went and gave it to my friend at the book- 
store, thus furnishing him with the facts and 
the means of proving them after I should be 
gone. What he did with it I have never learned. 

Of course I had twenty times as much 
trouble and vexation in the matter as the small 
amount involved was worth, but I thought if it 
were true that I was the first traveler thus 
sought to be victimized by a class correspond- 



284 



A .SUMMER IX XORWAY. 



ing to our hackmen, who are noted as swin- 
dlers throughout the civilized world, I resolved 
to give them as little encouragement as possible 
to complete their accomplishment in that branch 
of education in their business. 

. English travelers are pertinacious of their 
rights, not from penuriousness, but from prin- 
ciple ; and there was comparatively little of that 
petty swindling of travelers till Americans over- 
ran Europe, when it was found that they rather 
enjoyed to be victimized, and, of course, they 
found plenty to accommodate them ; but it has 
introduced a sort of demoralization from which 
all travelers suffer to a great extent. Still, 
Americans are singled out as the softest sub- 
jects. How long it will be belore this is under- 
stood in Norway as well as it now is in Paris, 
in Baden Baden, or in Rome, it is not easy to 
say. It will probably depend upon the circum- 
stance whether this shall become a popular 
route for American travel. If it was tried on 
me first, I have endeavored to do my duty as 
well to the people of the country, who would 
feel the prevalence of such practices their re- 
proach, as to those travelers who shall come 
after me. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



285 



I take great pleasure in saying that it was 
the only instance I met in Norway when I 
thought there was a real attempt to impose 
upon me. 

I can't help thinking that the landlord of my 
hotel did very wrong to pay a bill for me 
which he knew to be extravagant, when it was 
his duty to see that I was not imposed upon ; 
but I have tried to excuse him in my own 
mind, by the assumption that charges there are 
so uniformly reasonable and just that they do 
not know how to dispute a bill when they 
know it is unjust. I advise him hereafter to 
see to it that his guests are not victimized, at 
least with his concurrence, for it leaves a recol- 
lection not so fragrant as one would wish. It 
is not a good advertisement for a hotel. I 
have probably said as much about this case as 
the good of those who shall follow me into this 
northern country may require, and so I leave it. 

The four days we spent in Trondhjem on 
our return we found less pleasant than we an- 
ticipated, on account of the rain, more of which 
we experienced during that time than we had 
seen during the whole time we had spent within 
the Arctic Circle. 



286 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



We had hoped to see some darkness here, 
as no artificial light had been lit either on a 
steamer or in a house where we had been, but 
even in this we were all disappointed. One 
great object of our stay was rest, and we were 
all blessed with good appetites for sleep — we 
went to bed early and slept well in the morn- 
ings, so that if there was any night there we 
did not see it, nor for a week later. In fact, 
we had no artificial light and saw no darkness 
till we reached Lillehammer, and then it was 
more gloom than darkness — more a deep 
shadow than night. 

We, notwithstanding, found sufficient pleasant 
weather during our stay at Trondhjem to visit 
the surrounding country, and to marvel at the 
wonderful growth of vegetation during; our ab- 

o o o 

sence of less than a month. Before, the country 
seemed, barren and naked ; now it was verdant 
and beautiful. All the hills around were green 
to their summits. Up the valley of the Nid 
is as beautiful a farming country as one would 
wish to look at anywhere. Snug farm-houses 
and barns greet one at every turn. Thrift and 
industry are everywhere evident. Prosperity and 
contentment evidently reside in that valley. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



28? 



Where before the grass had not sufficiently 
started to relieve it from the appearance of a 
barren waste, we saw an American mowing ma- 
chine behind three sturdy ponies slashing down 
a good crop of grass, and the cultivated crops 
seemed to have made an equally rapid progress. 

Already in the Arctic Circle I had been 
struck with the manner of curing their hay, 
and I found the same mode practiced without 
an exception till after we passed the Dovre Fjeld, 
and after that generally, though not universally, 
down the valley of the Laagan river. This is 
no doubt rendered necessary by reason of the 
frequent showers to which the grass is ex- 
posed, and the little heat received from the 
sun's rays by reason of their striking the 
earth so obliquely, which is not compensated 
by their perpetual action. 

The hay is not cured upon the ground where 
it is cut, but instead, is hung up to dry. Strong 
stakes are set into the ground about six feet 
high and perhaps fifteen feet apart; these are sup- 
ported by braces set in the ground and leaning 
against their tops. Into these posts pins are in- 
serted about a foot or fifteen inches apart, on 
which long, slender poles are laid. On these 



288 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



poles the newly mown grass is spread, hanging 
down on either side, the lower pole being first 
covered and then the next, and so on up, till the 
whole is completed; that on a lower pole being 
always overlapped by that on the one next above 
it. In this position it readily sheds the rain and 
is exposed to the utmost action of the sun and 
wind, so that no matter how succulent the grass 
may be, it is rapidly dried to the condition of 
hay. These hay-racks, which at a little distance 
look like green hedges stuck about the meadows, 
were to me an interesting- feature. 

With the simple exception before mentioned, 
all the hay I saw was cut with the scythe. This 
implement is shorter than with us but similarly 
shaped, and is attached to a straight handle in- 
stead of a crooked snath as in this country; with 
us both handles are placed on the upper side of 
the crooked snath, inclining well forward. There, 
with the straight snath, the lower handle is placed 
like ours, but the upper handle is placed on the 
lower side, and inclined backwards. This con- 
strains the workman to keep his left arm always 
bent. In some places I saw them mowing grass 
which did not seem to be more than three inches 




NORWEGIAN CARRIOLE. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



289 



high, but the tool seemed to be very sharp, and 
they shaved it to the very ground. 

Everywhere, I saw more women at work in the 
hay-fields than men ; in but a few instances only 
were they mowing, when they seemed to keep up 
their swathes with the men without trouble. (I 
wonder if they got the same wages.) They were 
generally engaged in raking up the hay and plac- 
ing it on the racks to dry, or hauling it away; 
generally with a single pony on a sort of cart. 

As our next journey was over the Dovre Fjeld 
to Lillehammer and thence to Christiana, prepara- 
tions for that had to be made. The usual mode 
of public land travel in Norway is by carriole, 
which is systematized and regulated by law. 

On all the principal route^ through Norway, 
public stations are established ' from six to fifteen 
miles apart — remember I speak of English miles. 
These are of two classes, fast and slow stations ; 
on the most traveled routes they are fast stations, 
while on the more unfrequented routes they are 
slow stations. At the fast stations the station- 
master is bound to keep a specified number of 
horses and carrioles for the use of travelers ; at 
the slow stations horses are not required to be 

kept ready for travelers, but the farmers in the 
19 



290 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



neighborhood are obliged to furnish horses for 
the use of travelers ; on these latter routes trav- 
elers are obliged to wait, after arriving at a sta- 
tion, till word can be sent to the farmer, perhaps 
five or six miles away, who, no matter how press- 
ing his own work, is obliged to stop his team 
at once and send it away to the station. To 
avoid this delay, the traveler may, for a fixed 
price, send ahead a forbud, or messenger, to order 
horses to be ready, and thus avoid delay. 

At every station is kept a dag-bog or day- 
book, in the front of which is a statement of 
the number of horses which are required to be 
kept at that station. This of course depends 
much on the length of the route over which they 
have to travel. In this book travelers may enter 
any complaints they may have to make against 
any one, and it is the duty of a public officer, 
who goes over the route and examines the books 
at times required by law, to adopt such meas- 
ures as will prevent a repetition of the evil. In 
this book travelers are expected to register their 
names, and are at liberty to make any remarks, 
not impertinent, which they see fit, as connected 
with their journey, the country, or the people. 

The first business of a traveler when he 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



arrives at a station is to make an entry of the 
number of horses which he requires, and the 
station-master is obliged to furnish them in the 
order there entered. If the horses are all out, 
then you must wait till some come in, and then 
they must be allowed half an hour to rest before 
they are sent out again. 

By looking at the orders entered, and com- 
paring them with the number of horses required 
to be kept, you can readily verify the state- 
ment of the station-master who claims that all 
the horses are out. 

When there is a press of travel, and espe- 
cially in the latter part of the day, this system 
produces sometimes amusing scenes at the sta- 
tions, and sometimes along the road. Four or 
five carrioles may be traveling in company and 
may find themselves delayed by a party in front. 
They will select the best driver and horse and 
send him ahead if possible to get by the others 
and make the first entry in the book for all his 
party. Both may arrive at the station at the 
same time, at break-neck speed, when there is a 
simultaneous rush for the book, and the nimblest 
wins the day, and then his party will be sent off 



292 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



first, while the others may be delayed an hour 
or two for other horses to arrive and feed. 

While the traveler drives himself he is liable 
for all damages if he over-drives the horse and 
injures him, and so, as a general thing, they heed 
the suggestion of the skyds-gut or post-boy. 

The carriole is a vehicle with long shafts, two 
large wheels, and a .little shell-shaped seat for 
one person, and a board seat behind for the post- 
boy. 

Those furnished at stations have no springs, 
but are placed directly on the shafts, which, 
however, from their length and elasticity relieve 
the jolts very much. The harnesses are gener- 
ally the poorest apologies imaginable, frequently 
with an attempt at ornamentation on the saddle. 
Clothes-lines invariably constitute the lines ; the 
names are wooden collars without padding, and 
the whole tied together with innumerable strings, 
and you would suppose the thing would shake 
off the horse every minute. I have seen on our 
extreme frontier, harness similarly patched and 
tied, with which an old horse was attached to a 
plow; except that in Norway they have no traces 
to their harness, and the draft is by the shafts 
alone. A hole is made through the shaft near 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



293 



the end ; through this a loop a few inches long, 
and attached to the hame, is passed, and through 
this loop a toggle is thrust, and then the hitch- 
ing up is done. 

Where more than one horse is used, an extra 
shaft is attached, and another still if three are 
worked abreast. The rigidity of this attachment 
is very hard on the horses, but then they are 
tough little fellows and do not seem to mind it. 

The law fixes a separate charge for the horse 
and the carriole, so the traveler can take one or 
both as he likes. If he depends on the station 
for the carriole he must change at every station. 
A large proportion of travelers prefer to take 
their own carrioles and harness, which they can 
hire at Christiana or Trondhjem, or other start- 
ing point, generally at a reasonable price, and 
this arrangement should be sure to stipulate for 
leather or strap lines, as it is intolerably hard 
work to drive with rope lines. 

The most extraordinary feature of all this 
carriole system of travel, is, the horses must 
travel twice over the road to earn one fare. 
Each station must send away all comers, but 
must bring no one to the station, unless by 
the order of the station-master when the trav- 



294 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



eler is to start on the next route. If, how- 
ever, a station-master at a fast station chooses, 
he may detain .horses which arrive at his station 
from another fast station, two hours, to take a 
traveler back, but in that event the horse may 
be allowed one hour's rest before he is sent 
back. When the post-boy has been detained by 
the station-master to take back a passenger, he 
is entitled to the first traveler that arrives wish- 
ing to proceed. Unless the station-master orders 
the returning horse to take back a passenger — 
and I met with no instance where it was done, 
for it diminishes the revenue of the station — no 
matter what the emergency, they must inevi- 
tably go back empty. On several occasions we 
had to wait for horses to come in and be fed, 
while others were starting without loads on the 
road we were to go. We frequently overtook 
gangs of half-a-dozen or more led horses on the 
road ; and at one time they bothered us very 
much getting in front of our team, and kick- 
ing if pressed too hard. 

This unnecessary double work for single pay 
was altogether the most senseless thing I saw 
in Norway. Although constantly inquiring why 
this was so, and no doubt making myself ridic- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



295 



ulous a thousand times by suggesting how we 
would do it in America, not a word of reason 
for it did I ever hear. I have met with some 
who have been forwarded by detained horses, 
but from what I saw I am sure it is not com- 
mon. This carriole system is peculiarly a Norsk 
institution, and is probably of considerable an- 
tiquity, and was no doubt so started in the be- 
ginning, perhaps under the notion that it was 
too bad to make a horse pull a load both ways. 

The charges fixed bv law are not uniform 
for a given distance, and are sometimes more 
one way than the other, so that a specific 
charge is fixed for each route. They will aver- 
age for one Norwegian mile, or seven English 
miles, one and a half marks for the horse, four 
shillings for the post-boy. and six shillings for 
the carriole — or say a little less than five cents 
per English mile of our money. 

As some of my party were unable to travel 
in a carriole, it was found necessary to provide 
some other conveyance. Fortunately, I found 
a man who had several carriages, and who makes 
it his business to convey passengers across the 
country, wherever they may wish to go, de- 
pending upon the station horses, and keeping 



296 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



none of his own. He showed me his best car- 
riage, which was in town, and it was the best 
public conveyance I saw in Norway, seating four 
inside comfortably, and a seat outside with the 
driver. It had a top which could be let down 
or set up, as desired. Mr. Rose — that was his 
name — could not speak a word of English, but 
through an interpreter I closed « an agreement 
with him to take my party of four across the 
Dovre Fjeld, from Storen to Lillehammer, and to 
pay all bills connected with the transportation, 
for seventy dollars, and to be allowed forty 
pounds of baggage for each passenger, and to 
have that particular carriage ; to start at such 
time as I should designate within five days, to 
go when I directed and stop wmere I chose, so 
as we should not be more than seven days on 
the road. 

This contract I reduced to writing, had it 
rendered into Norwegian and signed by Rose. 

We fixed on Thursday morning to leave 
Storen, and he agreed to send the carriage up 
Wednesday. 

On Wednesday morning we took our final 
leave of Trondhjem and took the cars for Sto- 
ren, which is the southern terminus of the only 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



297 



railway in northern Norway, and is about thirty 
miles in length. It is about four-feet gauge, is 
in but indifferent order, but runs slowly and 
safely. This road is designed, eventually, to 
be continued to Christiana, and considerable 
grading has already been done upon it south of 
Stdren. We run up the Valley of the Nid to 
Heindal, when we turned to the west and passed 
over to the valley of another river which emp- 
ties into the bay south of Trondhjem. Thence 
our course was nearly due south up this val- 
ley to the end of the road. 

As we stopped at a station about half-way 
over, we saw a little girl on the platform with 
strawberries for sale. As they were the first we 
had seen this year, we took her entire stock 
in trade. They were wild, of a deep red color, 
of a long, conical shape, very sour and tasteless, 
and precisely like those I have seen wild on 
the shores of Lake Superior and other high lat- 
itudes. But they were strawberries, in the mid- 
dle of July, and so we ate them from principle 
if not from inclination. It was a treat, in ap- 
pearance at least, and with an effort we consid- 
ered it so in fact. 

We arrived at Storen about noon, and found 



298 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



ourselves comfortable at the only hotel in the 
place, and were soon after called upon by the 
English gentlemen whose acquaintance we had 
made on the Tasso. and whose fishing lodge 
was but a little way off, the hospitalities of 
which were offered us. We promised to go over 
and help eat the only salmon they had taken 
the season, which Mr. Adams had captured that 
morning. I have already given an account of 
this in an earlier part of these recollections, when 
treating of salmon-fishing in Norway, and will 
not revive that subject again. 

When the freight train came in that evening, 
our carriage came, and so we considered our 
arrangements complete. 

During our wanderings about the salmon 
pools — a place where salmon are accustomed 
to rise is called a pool, though there may be a 
strong current in a straight channel — we found 

O <-> 

fields of wild flowers, which would have been 
the delight of a botanist, and amonor others a 
few lilies of the valley, which our friends who 
showed them to us said had been very abundant 
a few days before. These were all found in the 
thickets on the steep side hills, though other 
wild flowers were abundant in the open ground. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



The overland trip; lose and then recover our carriage; 
light baggage; a countryman accompanies us; we start 
ON A good road; pass Prcesthuus, Garlid, Bjerkager and 
Austbjerg; a lady tries the carriole; a grand precipice; 
Stuen and Anne or Ovne; first night at a station; 
peat; a case of poverty; sunny nights; Rise, Drivstuen 
and Kongsvold; a Norwegian kitchen; try my hand at 
cooking with astonishing results; the dovre fjeld ; a 
bad road; the summit; Mount Sneileton; Hjcsrkin; the 

CARRIAGE UPSETS; THE MUSTANG HORSES OF THE COUNTRY. 

WE had intended to start the next morn- 
ing ; but, no doubt from a misunder- 
standing, Rose did not appear, and so we 
remained another day, which we did not much 
regret, as we were anxious to see Mr. Burrows 
fight a salmon, if one could be persuaded to 
rise to his fly. This, however, could not be, 
notwithstanding his most skillful efforts hour 
after hour. 

As we were returning to the hotel, about one 
o'clock, I saw persons hitching horses to our 
carriage, which still stood near the depot, as I 
supposed to draw it up to the house ; but while 

we were at the dinner-table I saw a party get- 

(299) 



300 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



ting into the carriage, behind which a trunk 
was fastened. Rose had not yet arrived, and I 
comprehended that we were about to lose our 
carriage, which was the only one I had seen in 
the country in which the journey could be com- 
fortably made by my party. I rushed out fran- 
tically, bareheaded, and, with a loud voice and 
wild gestures, stated in English that it was my 
carriage which I had hired of Mr. Rose and 
that they must not take it away, and all that. 
They understood as little English as I did of 
Norwegian, but I have no doubt they understood 
that I was making a claim to the carriage ; but 
the ladies inside, some of whom at least were 
young and pretty, and the gentlemen outside, 
who had passed the meridian of life — if not of 
usefulness, all smiled benignly upon me, which 
seemed to say : " poor fellow ! how bad he feels ; 
is it possible that he is mad ? " and with this 
compassionate look and smile, the whip cracked 
and away they went at a spanking pace, while the 
crowd that had gathered seemed to enjoy a quiet 
smile at my expense, and looked more amused 
than sympathetic. Now, I do not think this con- 
tributed to my amiability. Oh, how I longed for 
a horse, or a dog even, that could understand 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



301 



English, that I might free my mind of the bur- 
then which oppressed it. I believed I had been 
coolly sold out, and that Rose kept away on 
purpose. At this supreme moment, when I felt 
like wringing the necks of half of Norway, a 
happy thought occurred to me. If not a soul 
about could understand a word of English, at 
least they could read Norsk, so I whipped out 
my contract and thrust it into the jolly face of 
the landlord, who had been standing by with a 
look which implied a doubt of my sanity. After 
he had read it through, I placed my finger on 
the last line, which I knew was the one that pro- 
vided for that particular carriage, and he grunted 
out "So!" 

Now, this is a word that is interjected into 
Norwegian colloquy with a lavish profusion which 
speaks well for their good nature. It means a 
little more than the word means in English. It 
means assent or approval as we use the word yes. 
It is pronounced with a peculiar intonation which 
is soft and winning as well as approving, spiced 
with something of surprise ; and politeness seems 
to require that it should be used in response to 
every statement that is made in conversation. I 
have no doubt but this interjection is more fre- 



302 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



quently heard in the Storthing than " hear, 
hear ! " is in the British Parliament. This em- 
phatic "so!" seemed to produce a favorable effect 
on the crowd, and especially were they sympa- 
thetic when the landlord evidently explained to 
them that it was my carriage which had been 
thus run off before my face. I then went in and 
finished my dinner, possibly not in the best humor 
in the world. 

In the course of an hour or more Rose drove 
up in an old, heavy, lumbering carriage, and I 
pitched at him with more energy than intelligence 
no doubt, at least so far as he could see, for re- 
member he could not understand a word of Eng- 
lish. At last a Norwegian gentleman standing 
by and appreciating the difficulty, asked me if I 
could speak French ? This was a God-send ! I 
started in haste for Mr. Richards, who had gone 
up a canon in the mountain for ferns and flow- 
ers, and had him on the spot as soon as possible. 
Thank fortune, I now had the means of relieving 
my mind in words which could be understood. 
Rose recognized my right to the carriage, and 
said it had been taken by the gentleman without 
any authority. 

Now, this I did not believe, for he did not 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



303 



look to me like a carriage-thief, and in this be- 
lief I was confirmed when I saw Rose berating 
a young fellow who I have no doubt was in 
some way connected with him there, and who I 
was now satisfied had allowed the gentleman to 
take the carriage. I told Rose he must have 
that carriage back by seven o'clock in the morn- 
ing or he must be answerable for the damages. 
Seeing I was very much in earnest, he put the 
young fellow, who had no doubt been the cause 
of all the trouble, into a carriole, and started 
him up the road, at the best pace he could get 
out of a sorry - looking pony, to overtake and 
stop the carriage, and as soon as he could change 
horses he followed with his old carriage. 

About ten o'clock in the evening I had the 
satisfaction of seeing him drive up with my car- 
riage. He said the boy had overtaken the party 
at the second station, about fifteen miles out, 
where they had waited till he had come up and 
changed carriages with them. 

After all, I think justice requires me to say 
that I do not think there was any intentional 
wrong on the part of any one. The gentleman 
from Trondhjem wanted a carriage, and seeing 
one unemployed applied for it, and the boy, not 



304 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



knowing it was engaged, had let him have it, 
and Rose was not there to stop it. 

So soon as I saw the carriage returned and 
directed our driver to be ready at eight o'clock 
in the morning, I went to bed and was sound 
asleep before the sun had set, for it must have 
set sometime during the night in that latitude, 

o o ' 

which was about 6y north. 

We were up in good time in the morning and 
had our packing finished when our coffee was 
announced. Indeed, there was not much to pack, 
for we had sent all our ba^ea^e to Christiana 
by water, except what we could stow in one 
small ship trunk; and when we got through we 
knew the wisdom of the advice we had received, 
to take with us as little obstruction as possible 
when crossing the mountains. Indeed, we did 
not take more than half the weight allowed by 
the contract. 

The law in its paternal care, prescribes the 
number of horses to be attached to each kind 
of carriage, and ours required three. 

At eight o'clock our three prancing steeds 
came up to the door with our carriage behind 
them and Rose on the box. He had tied the 
rope lines to the hames, and had substituted a 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



305 



pair of strap lines in their place, otherwise the 
harness was as I have already described, without 
traces and tied together in sundry places with 
strings. Indeed, it may be truly said that the 
harness is not an article which station-keepers 
select for extravagant display ; in fact, they seem 
to take no pride in it whatever. It is by no 
means considered as an ornamental dress for the 
horse. 

Our trunk was soon lashed on behind and 
surmounted by the post-boy ; we bade farewell 
to our kind friends from the lod^e, made our 
adieus to the landlord and the hangers-on, who 
seemed to have taken an interest in us more 
than ever since the affair of yesterday, took our 
seats and away we went. 

Mr. Richards, who had traveled with us most 
of the time since we left Hull, had occupied his 
time the day before, so far as necessary, in se- 
lecting a carriole to his fancy, had organized his 
establishment, and now sat whip in hand behind 
a very ordinary lot of horse-bones, held together 
by a limited amount of tissue. When all was 
pronounced ready, he led the way at a better 
pace than I supposed his g turn-out could attain. 

Our road led up the valley, directly under the 

20 



306 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



over-hanging heights which bounded it on the 
west, while to the east of us it spread out into 
broad fields to the river, which ran close under 
the mountains on that side. 

Storen is really a delightful spot, situated in a 
sweet little nook in the midst of the mountains, 
which are covered with a dense growth of small 
evergreens — mostly fir — to their very tops, or 
so far as we could see. Sometimes the side of 
the mountain so covered seemed almost vertical, 
and the green mantle in places was torn asunder 
and exposed the bald face of the black, naked 
rock, so steep and unbroken that nothing could 
rest upon it. These 'green mountain sides, show- 
ing here and there the great black patches of 
rock, presented a beautiful picture when the de- 
clining sun was shining upon them with a soft 
radiance which was ever gratifying. 

I did not wonder that the denizens of the 
thronged, smoky, foggy metropolis of England 
should delight in such a quiet retreat where they 
could see so much of nature's wildness, even if 
the salmon proved obstinate and refused to rise 
though they exerted their utmost skill to persuade 
them. Twenty summers has Mr. Burrows spent 
in that same place, whipping those same pools, 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



307 



from which he has taken many tons of salmon, 
and my ardent hope is that he may live to 
enjoy them twenty summers more, and then some 
more yet. 

The road we found excellent ; equal to any 
mountain road I have found in Europe. It was 
macadamized all the way, and worked down 
smooth, with a grade varying from one in twenty 
to one in thirty feet, generally. It wound along 
up the valley of a large tributary which came 
tearing down its rocky bed, often in milk-white 
foam, and ever filled the valley with the sound 
of its falling waters. 

In about one and a half hours we brought 
up at Prsesthuus, where we found Mr. Richards 
waiting for his horse and also ours, for he had 
booked for us as well. Here we got out to taste 
the water and take a peep at the station-house. 
We had certainly made good time — about eight 
miles in an hour and a half, all the way up-grade. 

The next station was Garlid, about six miles. 
The grade on this part of the road was heavier 
than before, but the horses trotted most of the 
way. 

The next stage was about eight miles to Bjer- 
kager. It was now time for luncheon, but it did 



308 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



not look very inviting within, and as we had pro- 
vided ourselves well with crackers and cheese, 
and some relishes, we concluded to depend on 
our own resources. 

Travelers on carriole routes in Norway should 
always start with a good supply of provisions, for 
they are very liable to need them before they 
get through, and they should be well provided 
with water-proofs, for they may be frequently 
exposed to rains, though fortunately we escaped 
them entirely. The sun shone brightly all day, 
and it was quite warm enough for comfort. 

The next route was about seven miles, and 
brought us to Austbjerg. At Bjerkager one of 
the ladies changed places with Mr. Richards, in 
order to have some experience of carriole riding; 
she led us a merry dance over the road, and, I 
imagine, pretended not to understand the post- 
boy when he hinted that she would get through 
at last at a little slower pace. 

This route presented the grandest scenery on 
the whole road, and the slower we traveled the 
better it suited me, for I wanted to see it all. 
At one point, the valley is a sheer canon, where 
the road skirts the top of a precipice, with a ver- 
tical descent of seven hundred feet, at the bot- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



309 



torn of which the river is forced through a 
crevice which appears not three feet wide. 

When the road was constructed, in 1858, a 
laborer fell over this precipice, and a cross is 
graven on the face of the rock by the side of 
the road, to mark the spot where he met his 
untimely fate, and beside it is the date. It is a 
more frightful chasm to look into than even Cape 
Horn, in the Sierras, on the Pacific road. 

At every exposed place along this road, rough 
stone pillars are placed at the outer edge of the 
way, more or less frequent, according to the dan- 
ger of the place ; and indeed these may be said 
to be continuous, except on the Dovre Fjeld, where 
the road is on more level ground. 

After Austbjerg, we reached Stuen, about 
eight miles distant, where we again changed 
horses, and then pushed on at a lively pace to 
Anne or Ovne, about six miles distant, the place 
selected for our night station, where we arrived 

o 

about five o'clock in the evening, having made 
about fifty English miles in about nine hours, 
including stops and all the way climbing up the 
mountain. 

There is no village here, but a simple station- 
house which afforded us very comfortable quar- 



310 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



ters, with good clean beds, in which I could 
nearly straighten myself out. 

At this point a road branches off to the west 
to Sundalsoren, which is at the head of a very 
deep fjord, which penetrates the mountains for 
nearly fifty miles, and where the traveler can 
take a steamer for Christiansund, and thus join 
the coast route. 

Anne is situated in a comparatively level tract 
of country, showing considerable signs of fer- 
tility. The house stands at the very edge of an 
extensive peat-bog which they were in the pro- 
cess of clearing of the stunted spruce trees with 
which it is covered. This is done with great la- 
bor, in which a sort of grubbing hoe is used to 
dig up the shrubbery and roots, and skin off the 
surface, all of which is burned on the ground. 
Deep ditches were run through in various direc- 
tions. The wonder to me was, that the peat 
itself did not take fire and become entirely con- 
sumed, for it seemed to be quite dry ; but prob- 
ably there was moisture enough left to protect 
it. A small garden had been planted on a part 
of the lately cleared bog, but its promise was 
very indifferent. 

After dinner we took a long walk up the 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



311 



branch road which leads to Sundalsoren, which 
was closed by a large gate which all travelers had 
to stop and open as they passed. Some distance 
up this road was a very pretty grove of ever- 
greens, and by the way we found some wild 
flowers. After we returned I walked up the 
Dovre Fjeld road, to where a small creek crosses 
it, and where a family of the poorest looking 
people I saw in Norway had stopped to lunch ; 
a young man and woman and their two children, 
one about three years old and the other perhaps 
one year. When they had finished their rye crust 
and drank from the creek, the father strapped 
the baby to his back and started along, while 
the mother tied up the bundle of rags which she 
threw over her shoulder and the little boy slung 
a bottle on his back, when they trudged slowly 
after. All were bare-foot, ragged and dusty, and 
perhaps I may add — dirty, and do them no in- 
justice. Unless their looks did them great injus- 
tice, they frequently violated their temperance 
pledge, if they ever took one. I repeat this was 
the strongest case of evident indigence I saw in 
Norway. 

These sunny nights can hardly conduce to 
health, they steal away so much of sleep. One 



312 



A SUMMER IN NOR W AY. 



does not readily get sleepy in the sunshine, and 
then we are so apt to forget to look at the watch 
to see if it is time to retire. 

The sun was so slow going down, that by 
half-past ten o'clock we kissed our hands to him 
and with a cheery good-night withdrew to our 
narrow cots and slept gloriously in the soft but 
bracinof mountain air. There were the inevitable 
down bed-covers, but it was little trouble to re- 
move them. 

Rise was the first station reached in the 
morning, where we got fresh horses, and after 
that Drivstuen, where we again took fresh 
horses for Kongsvold, which we reached about 
one o'clock p. m., having made about twenty-five 

miles for the mornings drive. Here we con- 

<_> 

eluded to take our dinners. 

The station is situated on the side of a de- 
clivity, with a rising piece of meadow-land be- 
hind it. As we drove up I observed an abun- 
dance of cowslips in the meadow, and so soon as 
we stopped I went over and picked a nice lot 
of the inside tender leaves, and explained to 
mine hostess, as well as I could, that they were 
good to eat, and I wanted them boiled, and 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



313 



saw them placed in a saucepan with water, and 
set upon the fire. 

As this part of a Norwegian kitchen is pecu- 
liar, I may describe it by stating that the fire- 
place occupies one of the angles of the room, 
and consists of a platform of brick about eight 
inches thick, resting on the floor, and circular 
in front, and brick-work extending up the walls, 
forming the back and sides of the fireplace. 
Over it a sort of hood is built which is con- 
tracted to the dimensions of a chimney above. 
On this the fire is made and the cooking is 
done. Now this was the cooking-place in all 
the kitchens which I was permitted to enter in 
Norway, which, I admit, were not very numer- 
ous, but I think it is the common style in the 
country, but I was told that in the dwellings 
of well-to-do families in cities, cooking-ranges 
and stoves have been introduced. 

As dinner was announced, I rushed to the 
kitchen to see how my greens were progressing, 
and found the water had nearly boiled away ; 
so I caught up the kettle standing by and re- 
plenished the saucepan with — coffee ! That 
ended my benevolent efforts to teach the Nor- 
wegians the use of a new vegetable which 



314 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



abounds in some parts of the country at least ; 
and I confess I left the country with a sad 
heart at the thought that so much food was 
lost, simply for the want of knowledge. I ate 
my dinner in silent disappointment, while the 
rest of the party, I really think, were more jolly 
than ever, and seemed to think it rather funny 
that I had made such a signal failure as a cook 
as well as an educator. 

This is the first station on the north side 
of the Dovre Fjeld. The broad table-land on 
the flattened top of a mountain is called trots- 
lette, while the mountain itself is called fjeld. 
So Dovre Fjeld means Dover Mountain, which 
comprehends also the troislette or table-land of 
the top. This table on top of the Dovre Fjeld 
is about twenty-five miles across by the road 
which we traveled. It is by no means a level 
plateau, but is, to say the least, hilly or heavily 
rolling. 

Although Kongsvold is, rightly considered, on 
the fjeld, we were by no means at the top or 
table. 

Immediately on leaving the station we entered 
upon a piece of the worst road I saw in Nor- 
way. We passed over a succession of rolls, 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



315 



each rising higher than the other ; we would go 
up a long hill where it was with the utmost 
difficulty the horses could drag the carriage with 
only the ladies in it, and two of them frequently 
got out and walked, out of compassion to the 
poor brutes ; and then we would tumble down a 
pitch as steep as the roof of a house, and the 
horses would have to run for dear life to keep 
out of the way of the carriage, for the harness 
shook about them like an old tattered cloak, and 
threatened to fly off with the wind every mo- 
ment, and was of little use in holding back. 

This was the worst engineering I met with 
on that road. These frightful grades may easily 
be avoided, and probably will be soon. 

We felt greatly relieved when we had attained 
a higher altitude on more level ground. Here 
we found the location of the road had been 
lately changed to go round an immense hill on 
an easy grade, which follows the valley of a 
creek which is the head of the waters we had 
been following, up for two days, and presently 
we reached the summit on the Dovre Fjeld, and 
stopped for a few moments to survey the water 
shed on either side. 

It was by no means a verdant picture, but 



316 



A SUMMER IN XORWAY. 



rather one of untamed desolation. There was 
some crrass and reindeer moss, but no trees or 
shrubbery to relieve the view. We were now at 
the greatest altitude we should attain in Nor- 
way, and the influence of the rarefied atmosphere 
was sensibly felt. We had. till now, been con- 
stantly climbing the mountain, generally by easy 
grades, it is true, still it was up, up, up, till it 
had really become monotonous. Thenceforth it 
would be down-hill Avork, and the rapid descent 
of the road which' lav before us was suowstive 
of relief to the horses as well as ourselves. 

Away to the right, about twenty-five miles 
distant, the oreat Snehaeten, the highest mount- 
ain in the range, lifted his snow-capped head 
high in the clear atmosphere, from whose frozen 
surface the bright ravs of the sun Avere bril- 
liantly reflected. It looked as if it were but just 
across the vallev and might be reached in an 
hour's walk, still we could see nothing of it 
below the snow line. It looked like a great 
fool's-cap of washed wool, studded all around 
with lesser peaks, mostly covered with eternal 
snows. 

After a short pause and a short survey, the 
accommodating Rose gave the inevitable grunt, 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



31? 



which the horses understand to be the Norske 
for go ahead, and away we went down the 
mountain, led by Richards in his carriole, who 
seemed to appreciate that it was his business to 
keep out of our way, or worse might come of it. 

The new road led us all the way to Hjcerkin, 
which is an old station on the old road, and is 
situated on a steep eminence. 

Richards had reached there before us, in time 
to climb the eminence and make the necessary 
entry in the day-book, and was seated at his 
ease on a bench outside the house. 

When we reached the foot of the declivity, 
our driver concluded not to drive up at all, but 
turn around there and bring: the fresh horses 
down. The road was narrow and sideline. In 
turning short round, he brought the fore wheel 
quite under the carriage, which, without a load, 
would not have touched the body, but now, with 
the load in, the wheel came in contact with the 
bottom, and over we went down the hill. As I 
saw we were going over, I seized the lines as 
far forward as I could reach, and slipped from 
the box down on the rump of the near horse, 
and at the same time yanked the horses back, 
for a runaway at that time ' must be prevented. 



318 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



Where Rose landed I never did know, but the 
first I saw of him he was crawling up the hill 
from below. 

I was in a tight place, for I had slid down 
behind the horse, and my energetic pull at the 
lines had jammed me close between the horse 
and the carriage, which now lay on its side. The 
horse, evidently not liking the position, made 
frantic efforts to kick me away, but I held him 
so firmly back, and was jammed so tightly against 
him, that, at best, he made but abortive efforts. 

The moment Richards saw the carriage was 
going over, he made the best leaps he could 
down the steep hill, and in a very few seconds 
had the horses by the bits, knowing that the 
greatest danger was a runaway. A dozen men 
quickly joined him, and others ran to the car- 
riage, taking off the roof and helping out the 
ladies. 

Let me here say a word to their credit, that 
not a scream was heard from one of the ladies, 
but they kept very quiet till they could be care- 
fully got out. 

I will say for the horses, that they were more 
manageable than we could expect most horses 
to have been under the circumstances, and this 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



319 



breed of mustangs are exceptionably gentle and 
well broken, and as safe to put in the hands of 
a lady as any I have ever seen. They are good 
travelers and are very hardy. They do all their 
work, almost entirely, on what food they can 
pick up on the mountain sides. At many, if 
not most, of the stations, we had to wait till 
they could be sent for and brought in from the 
mountains, which, however, usually, did not take 
long, for the bells they wore told where they 
were. They made an average of seven miles an 
hour on the down grades, and six miles on the 
moderate up-grades. The great delay in this 
traveling is the loss of time at the stations. 

The prevailing color of these horses is a yel- 
lowish cream shade with black skin, with dark 
mane and tail, and a darker list down the back. 

At last the horses were disentangled from the 
harness and I was relieved from my unpleasant 
position, for I confess that hugging the heels of 
a mustang is unpleasant, at the best ; and when 
I looked about I found the ladies all on the 
ground and without a scratch or a bruise. I had 
got a raking bruise from the foot to the knee, 
but the skin was only broken near the upper 
part, which was bleeding, but moderately. This 



320 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



I gave a good cold - water bath from the little 
brook which came leaping down from the heights 
above, and I never suffered seriously from it 
afterwards, though I brought the marks home 
with me as a constant reminder of Hjoerkin on 
the Dovre Fjeld. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Resume the journey; bleak and barren district; delay at 
Fogstuen; flowers under snow; snowballing in July; 
another accident, and hazardous travel; dombaas; wild 
reindeer; no darkness yet; part with our traveling com- 
panion; the Norwegian elk; Thoftemoen; a royal station- 
keeper, his pride and wealth; Laagen valley; a perilous 

BRIDGE AND ROAD; BRCENDHAUGEN, LAURGAARD, MoEN, BEDE- 

vanjen; Kringlen, an historical site; the story of the 

ANNIHILATION OF A SCOTCH ARMY UNDER SINCLAIR, AT KrIN- 

glen; the commemoration monument; the romance. 

WHEN the carriage was righted and in- 
spected, it was found to be so little 
injured as to render it safe to proceed, and so 
the fresh horses were hitched to and we pro- 
ceeded on our way, thankful that it was no 
worse. 

The next was one of the longest routes of 
the whole road, being about fourteen miles. The 
road is undulating along the top of the fjeld, 
but the general altitude is not much changed. 
The country is bleak, barren and desolate, with 
ponds or little lakes scattered along the way 
which are the sources of the streams which find 
their way down the eastern slope. Occasionally 

21 ( 3 2I) 



322 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



a pile of rock indicates a place where the mate- 
rial was more refractory than the rest, and so 
had resisted better the decomposing elements 
which had leveled down the top of the mountain 
chain. 

When we reached Fogstuen we found no 
horses in, and were told we must wait two hours 
before we could q-o on. 

It was now live o'clock, and as our plan em- 
braced but one more stage for the day, we had 
hoped to have got through in good season and 
have a long rest. We of course were not pleased 
at the prospect, and suspected a plan on the part 
of the station-keeper to keep us all night. 

As we had found the musquitoes bad on the 
fjeld, and here infinitely worse than we had seen 
them before, we resolved not to humor his design, 
and so did not enter the house at all but sat in 
the carriage or wandered about the place. 

I went off a third of a mile, botanizing, to 
a great mass of snow which lay in a gorge 
above the road, and found some of the same 
flowering' moss which I had seen at Bodo, and 
two other species of moss, and some flowering 
shrubs in full bloom, not more than four inches 
high ; some of these I picked out from under 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



323 



the snow — it was more ice than snow — where 
the underside had melted away and left an open 
space between it and the ground of a foot or 
more. On my return I took a quantity of the 
snow with me, and we had a good game at 
snow-ball in July. I thought we might never 
again have the opportunity for this sport in mid- 
summer. You must know travelers will often do 
something of the kind, if it is only to have some 
subject out of the usual way to talk and tell 
about when they get home. 

In an hour and a half from the time of our 
arrival, the horses were hitched, when one of the 
young ladies took Mr. Richards' seat in the car- 
riole and led the way to Dombaas, about six 
miles distant, and we followed at a good round 
pace. Soon the road began to descend very rap- 
idly, and I feared we should run into the carriole 
before us, as our holding-back arrangements were 
very imperfect. I shouted till I made her under- 
stand the emergency, when she proved equal to 
the occasion and fairly flew down the long steep 
hills, thus removing all fear of a collision. 

I rode on the box, and, I confess, with fear 
and trembling. Finally, as we were going down 
one of the long steep descents — which had now 



324 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



become bordered with stunted shrubbery — at a 
rattling- pace, the outer shaft of the off horse 
dropped to the ground, the end caught and it 
was doubled up and broken into several pieces 
in an instant, with a crack like the report of a 
pistol. This checked the speed of the carriage 
so that we stopped without serious accident. 
One piece of the shaft was found a hundred 
feet away, in the bush. The remnant of the 
shaft was speedily taken off, a piece of rope 
substituted, and we resumed our journey at the 
same break-neck pace, which was unavoidable on 
such a grade, a nd with such harness. 

o 

The valley below opened before us, showing 
a cluster of houses at the station, and a lone 
distance of the road to Molde, which branches 
off at Dombaas, which Mr. Richards was to take 
in the morning. 

When the last hill was descended and we 
found ourselves in the valley, I confess that I 
felt a great relief. For myself, I do not fancy 
rolling down a precipitous hill half a mile long, 
where you have to urge the horses to keep them 
out of the way of the carriage, and where an 
accident might hurl you into a deep ravine. I 
am content with less exciting travel. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



325 



Half a mile brought us to an excellent station 
where there was good fare and abundance of 
accommodation. We found a man connected 
with the establishment who spoke gooel English, 
and from him we heard the first word of Eng- 
lish which had greeted our ears, except from our 
.own party, since we had left Storen. Here, too, 
is a telegraph office. Although there is a tele- 
graph line along the road we had come, not a 
single office had we met till now. 

We were now in the neighborhood of the 
wild reindeer, the meat of which is a standing 
dish at this station in season, and I imagine, from 
what I saw, they are not always particular about 
the season. I here found a choice collection of 
the antlers of these deer, which I carefully stud- 
ied with great interest. 
<_> 

The only difference I could detect between 
them and the antlers of our caribou, is that, in 
America they are more palmated than there, 
and the beams are less cylindrical. 

We had still seen no darkness, and promised 
ourselves that long lost luxury here, but the fa- 
tigues of the day were too much for us, and we 
gave over waiting and retired by sunlight The 
young ladies, however, not to be entirely balked 



326 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



in their hopes, darkened their windows as much 
as possible, and lit a candle to retire by, but the 
result was represented as showing a rather sickly 
effort. Indeed, it was a failure, and we must 
still wait longer for nature's darkness, or manage 
not to sleep so soundly as the atmosphere there 
prompted. Had we staid over night at Fogstuen, 
there can be no doubt that the musquitoes would 
have kept us awake till we could have seen stars 
as well as darkness, but those pests had left us 
when we descended from the hi^h table - lands, 
and now our sleep was sound and undisturbed. 

We awaked in the morning later than usual, 
and we only got down-stairs in time to bid 
good-bye to Mr. Richards, who was already sit- 
ting in his carriole in front of the door. In a 
few minutes he dashed down the lane, and at 
the diverging point turned to the left and took 
the road to Molde and for the Felle Fjelds. Some 
weeks later, when our steamer neared the wharf 
at Copenhagen, 'we saw him standing in the 
crowd on the dock expecting us. 

He reported the route from Molde across 
the Felle Fjeld as still more interesting, and the 
scenery finer, than that across the Dovre Fjeld. 
From Copenhagen our routes were together till 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



327 



we reached Cologne, where we again separated 
till we met in Paris, where he again left us for 
Spain, to sail for South America, where he is 
spending the summer this winter, and proposes 
finally to go around the world a second time, by 

J O 'J 

way of the South Sea islands and Australia. 

We are now in the vicinity of the great 
Scandinavian elk, which is specifically identical 
with the American moose, though it is a little 
less in size. and not quite so dark in color, but 
in all essential particulars the}" are precisely 
alike, and if one from either side of the Atlan- 
tic were transferred to the other, no one would 
suspect that he was an emigrant. 

This is the largest and the ugliest of all the 
existing deer family, and to the naturalist pre- 
sents a study of the profoundest interest. In 
size he is simply enormous for a deer. In 
height he is fully equal to the horse, sometimes 
reaching seventeen or eighteen hands, but he is 

o <_> 

not proportionably long. In America he has 
been known to attain a weight of more than 
fourteen hundred pounds. His legs are very 
long and stout, the fore legs being the longest. 
His head, too, is of enormous length, being from 
two to two and a half feet, with a great pre- 



328 



4 SUMMER IX 



XOR IV A Y. 



hensile nose, or upper lip, which projects several 
inches beyond the lower jaw. His antlers are 
short and broadly palmated, with many sharp 
tines. His neck is very stout and short, being 
only about the length of the head. From this 
cause he is unable to craze on level ground 

o o 

without getting on his knees. However, he o;ath- 
ers his food mostly from the trees, for which 
his form is specially adapted, being fond also 
of aquatic plants, which he gathers by wading 
in the water. He gathers the reindeer moss on 
the sides of the mountains, and feasts on the 
parasitic lichens, which he readily strips from 
the trees. 

He inhabits only cold countries, in high lat- 
itudes, and confines his range to the forests. 
He never ascends the mountains above the 
timber line, but rather affects the low and 
marshy grounds, where he finds his favorite food 
most abundant. He inhabits a region of country 
in common with the reindeer, though he does 
not £0 as far north, but is found further south 
than the latter deer. 

Authors inform us that this elk was formerly 
kept in a domestic state in Xorway, and was 
extensively used as a beast of draft and of bur- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



329 



then, and it is difficult to conjecture why he was 
abandoned for that purpose, for his great 
strength and endurance admirably adapt him 
for domestic uses. 

Formerly the elk were very abundant in 
Norway, and its flesh was an important article 
of subsistence among the bonde or peasantry. 
In deep snows they were pursued on snow-shoes 
or skates, called skie, which are quite different 
from our snow-shoes. They are made of wood, 
of the width of the foot, and about ten feet long, 
and capable of sustaining a man on light snow. 
The skie-ldber does not attempt to walk with 
them, using them only as runners, propelling 
himself by a pole. In this way they can proceed 
very rapidly, and so they make long journeys. 

Lately it has been found necessary to protect 
the elk by stringent laws, to prevent their exter- 
mination. The closed season is from the 31st of 
October till the 1st of August, leaving only three 
months, August, September and October, within 
which it is lawful to take them ; and even then 
the owner of an estate may shoot but a single 
elk during the season, or he may transfer this 
right to another. Under this protection they are 
said to be now increasing in numbers. 



330 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



Even more stringent protection has lately 
been extended to them in the maritime prov- 
inces of the Dominion of Canada, where thev 
were also becomino- very scarce, an entire res- 
pite for three years being provided. 

In this country they are now found in the 
greatest abundance in Alaska, but they extend 
as far south as Montana, where thev orow to a 
larger size than in any other part of the world. 
The elk of Europe, or the moose of America, 
is truly a noble animal, and the grandest rep- 
resentative of the deer, which is the largest 
family of ruminants found on the earth, and 
inhabiting every quarter of the globe — abun- 
dant in the torrid as well as in the frimd zone. 
It well becomes legislators to look to the pro- 
tection of this great quadruped, and prevent 
his extinction. The illustration is of a Nor- 
wegian elk. 

A new shaft had to be provided in place of 
the broken one, and it was nearly nine o'clock 
before we got away. However, truth compels 
me to say that I think we were principally re- 
sponsible for the delay ourselves. We had en- 
joyed the luxury of sound sleep to a late hour, 
and the carriage was ready as soon as we were. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



331 



As we were getting into the carriage, the two 
under-graduates, who had been disappointed in 
their efforts to cross the mountains through Lap- 
land to Tornea, on the gulf of Bothnia, and so 
had been compelled to return to Trondhjem and 
had followed on the same road as we had come, 
drove up. They had been compelled to stay 
all niodit at Fogrstuen for the want of horses, 
and they described the battle with the mosqui- 
toes as absolutely terrific. 

This was the warmest morning we had felt 
this year, and so was the day, throughout. We 
early laid aside wraps and quasi-winter clothing. 

We reached Thoftemcen in one hour, a distance 
of a little over seven miles. We had looked for- 
ward to this station with great interest, for it is 
royal if not classic ground. 

The Tofte family, of which our station-keeper 
is one, are acknowledged by all to be lineal de- 
scendants of Harold Haarfager, or the Fair-haired, 
of whom I have already spoken, as the founder 
of the first Norwegian dynasty, and reigning in 
Norway and Sweden a thousand years ago. If 
he is a fast station-keeper on a post-road, he 
keeps a good house and makes moderate charges, 
and withal is very wealthy, as are the other 



332 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



members of his family. He is very proud of his 
royal descent, and exacts deference and respect 
in recognition of it. Unfortunately he was not 
at home, so we did not see the head of the 
house, but we were careful to speak every one 
fairly and received every civility in return. 

When Carl XV. was on his way, in i860, to 
Trondhjem, with about fifty in his suite, to receive 
the Norwegian crown in the old cathedral, he 
stopped for dinner at Thoftemcen. When the 
royal plate was about to be brought in, Tofte 
proudly told the king that it was quite unnecessary, 
as he had enough plate in the house to accom- 
modate twice as many as he had with him, and 
that it had belonged to a real king of ancient 
and royal descent, and not to a mere pretender. 

The king recognized the pride and sensibility 
of his subject, and had the discretion to humor 
it, and professed to enjoy his dinner hugely from 
plate so honored, and treated Tofte with every 
possible consideration, and fairly won his heart 
before he left. 

These descendants of the ancient royal line 
never marry out of the family, so that the royal 
blood is kept pure from plebeian taint. 

At Dombaas we struck the valley of the Laa- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



333 



gen river, which rises in the mountains to the 
west, and is, at this point, a stream of consider- 
able magnitude, rolling down its rocky bed in 
perpetual cascades. In general, the valley is nar- 
row, with a fertile strip of land alternately on 
either side, and is bounded by high and precip- 
itous mountains. Sometimes the sides of these 
mountains are capable of cultivation to a great 
height, where they will be seen dotted over with 
farmsteads like a checker-board. 

The road runs on the east side of the river 
to about four miles below Toftemcen, where it 
crosses to the west side. The bridge at this 
crossing had been carried away by a freshet 
some weeks before, so we had to cross the river 
on an old rickety bridge at this station from 
which a temporary road had been opened down 
the west side to join the regular road at the old 
crossing. 

As no one could speak a word of English, 
even in the royal household, it took a little time 
to make us understand the situation, and that 
it was safer that we should cross this bridge on 
foot. So soon as we did comprehend it we 
started for the bridge, and when we reached it 
we readily understood the prudence of the sug- 



334 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



gestion. It swayed and trembled even by the 
passage on foot, and the foaming of the torrent 
far below admonished us that it would not be 
a pleasant place to be tumbled into with a car- 
riage. 

After we had crossed, we took seats on a 
sloping grass-plat beneath the shade of some 
bushes which protected us from the fierce rays 
of the sun which now poured down with great 
intensity. 

Presently we saw the carriage approach with 
only two horses. This was necessary because 
the bridge was not wide enough to admit of 
three abreast, and the same was true of the im- 
provised road beyond. The ascent of the bridge 
was very steep and rough, and it was all the 
horses could do to pull the carriage up ; and 
as they scrambled up the steep, the vibration of 
the bridge was fearful, and it looked as if the 
danger was great, that the usefulness of Rose 
would there terminate, and our journey be sus- 
pended for the time at least, and without any 
insurance on our baggage. He, however, landed 
safely, to our great relief, and was followed by 
an old horse and an old crazy carriole which 
did no credit to the royal establishment that 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



335 



furnished it. This was designed for my use, as 
the three ladies would make as much load as 
the two horses could draw in the carriage. 

That new road was most of the way through 
a dense brush, and full of small pine stumps 
and rocks ; it went up and down steep pitches, 
and was frequently sideling, and very uncomfort- 
able, and by no means re-assuring. 

We were two hours making the four miles, 

<_5 

and were greatly relieved and truly rejoiced 
when we struck into the old road, which was 
smooth and of regular, easy grade, and soon run 
down to Braendhaugen, which was our next sta- 
tion. Here we got some luncheon. 

Before we left, the under-graduates came up in 
their carrioles, full of execrations upon the new 
, which they had come over at a more rapid 
pace than we chose to endure, and they declared 
they were fairly shaken to pieces. 

We made good time to Laurgaard, which is 
the next station, where we again crossed the 
river. At this point a road turns off to the west 
which the young gentlemen were to take for an 
excursion into the mountains in that direction, 
and strike the coast through Nord Fjod. 

This station is off the road on a high piece 



336 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



of ground, affording a fine view down the river 
valley, which showed more of smiling prosperous 
agriculture than we had seen since we left 
Trondhjem. 

The next route led us down through this 
beautiful valley to Moen, which is a little hamlet 
close under the foot of the mountain. The place 
is by no means as inviting as the country above 
it. 

From Moen to Bredevangen, the next station, 
is about six miles, and about half-way between 
them is Kringlen, where Col. George Sinclair 
and all his army were annihilated more than 
two hundred and fifty years ago, during the war 
between Denmark and Sweden. 

At that time Norway was attached to Den- 
mark, which was ruled over by Christian IV. 
while Gustavus Adolphus reigned in Sweden. 
Sinclair raised a force in Scotland to assist Gus- 
tavus Adolphus ; but as the entire coast was 
occupied by the Danes, from Calmer in the Bal- 
tic clear around to the North Cape, it was no 
easy matter for the Scotch to join the Swedes. 
The bold and desperate plan was finally adopted 
to land on the west coast of Norway and fight 
their way across the mountains into Sweden. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



337 



Sinclair, with nine hundred men, passed up 
the Romsdel Fjord, and landed at Romsdalen 
and pursued the road to Dombaas, and thence 
down the valley of the Laagen to Romundgaard, 
which is close by Laurgaard, where they spent 
the night of the 25th of August, 161 2. 

Their march through the country had been 
marked by those excesses of rapine and destruc- 
tion characteristic of warfare in those times, 
and the next day they swept down the beautiful 
valley before them, flushed with success and 
plunder, having met with no dangerous opposi- 
tion since they landed in Norway, nor did they 
apprehend any, for most of the able-bodied men 
of the country had gone to the war, leaving only 
the old, the young and the women to care for 
their homes, which in the recesses of those 
mountains they supposed were far removed from 
danger. Thus the very audacity of this bold 
movement had so far insured its success. 

At Kringlen the mountain from a great height 
appears like a smooth naked rock, and slopes to 
the water's edge, like the roof of a house. At 
the foot of this rock and close to the edge of 
the water, ran the road along which the army 
must pass. I judge this peculiar formation con- 



338 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



tinues for quite half a mile. The old men and 
boys, and probably the women, had here antici- 
pated the enemy by placing at the top of this 
sloping mountain immense quantities of logs and 
rock, all so held that they could be simultane- 
ously discharged. 

Sinclair had received no intimation of this 
preparation for his reception, and rendered con- 
fident by the absence of all opposition thus far, 
rushed gaily into the terrible dead-fall set for 
him. When all had passed within the fatal lines, 
the whole collection of missiles was discharged 
at the same moment, and crushed in an instant 
or swept into the river the greatest part of the 
army. The few that survived were dispatched 
upon the spot by their enemies who rushed upon 
them in the midst of the confusion, and before 
even the smoke and the dust of the avalanche 
had cleared away. Not a soul escaped. The 
history of human warfare shows no other instance 
where so large an army was utterly destroyed 
to the last man, in so short a time. 

So great an event as this, of course, could 
not take place without its romance, and this is 
the one related of this transaction. Lady Sin- 
clair accompanied the expedition, which was well 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



339 



known throughout the country. A young man 
who had remained from the wars was to be 
married that evening. His sweetheart, hearing 
there was a lady in the doomed army, enjoined 
it upon him to protect and save the lady at all 
hazards, a commission which he undertook and 
promised to faithfully execute. In the midst of 
the melee, he sought out Lady Sinclair, and 
rushed up to afford the promised protection, but 
she, mistaking his purpose, shot him dead, and 
then herself shared the sad fate of her com- 
panions. 

We may well imagine the wailing and woe 
of the promised bride, instead of the gladness 
and rejoicing which she had anticipated. 

The place of the tragedy is marked upon 
the face of the rock, and is pointed out to the 
traveler as referring to one of the great events 
in Norwegian history. 

Colonel Sinclair was buried further down the 
road, near Storklevstad, where a monument is 
erected, consisting of a large rough ashler, with 
an inscription in Norsk, of which this is given 
as a translation : 



Here was buried George Sinclair, the leader of the Scotch, 
after having fallen at Kringlen on the 26th August, 1612. 



340 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



I admit it is a suspicious circumstance that 
no one can point out where his wife was buried, 
nor is known the final resting-place of the brave 
youth who gallantly lost his life in trying to 
protect her, and found a grave instead of a 
nuptial bed. 

Some authorities claim that two of the Scots 
escaped, and others that sixty prisoners were 
taken who were afterward slaughtered in cold 
blood. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Storklevslad; secure a good dinner; Oien; Norwegian 
timber; a race for horses; we win; Listad; Skj^egg- 
stad; the beggars in Norway; last of the snow- 
mountains; Kerkestuen; the road along the river; 
holmen and fossegaarden ; vexatious delay waiting 
for horses; need of patience; lower valley of the 
Laagen; Lake Mjosen; reach Lillehammer. 

THE distance from Bredevangen to Storklev- 
stad is about eleven miles. We reached 
here about six o'clock p. m. We had fixed upon 
Oien, scarcely six miles hence, as our resting- 
place for the night. We soon discovered there 
was trouble about horses. We did not speak 
Norske so anyone could understand it, and as for 
English, not a soul there could speak a word 
of it. At last, by the use of figures and pan- 
tomimes, we were made to comprehend that we 
could not get horses till eleven o'clock that 
night. We suspected it was a ruse to secure 
our patronage for the night, and so felt 
strongly inclined to stick it out. We had al- 
ready been hanging around the carriage for 
an hour without going into the house, and 

(34i) 



342 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



indeed were rather out of humor. However, 
I went in and looked at the rooms, which 
were comfortable enough ; so I returned soft- 
ened, and advised a halt for the night. Ac- 
cordingly we went in and ordered dinner. 

We ordered ham and eggs — we knew the 
Norwegian for that — but the great trouble was 
to make them understand that we wanted the 
ham fried without being first boiled, as we had 
universally found that the proper thing in Nor- 
way was to first boil the ham and then fry it. 
Our protracted efforts to make this understood 
evidently put the good landlady out of humor. 

Now this is the worst thing in the world a 
traveler can do, if he would study his own com- 
fort. So we all went to work to make ourselves 
agreeable and repair the mischief. Some kissed 
the children ; some admired the flowers, and oth- 
ers the photographs, and very soon we found 
everything around us smiling. The ham came 
on fried to a turn, and in the way we wanted, 
and the first portion doubled. White bread was 
produced, and the tea was well brewed. The 
landlady evidently concluded that fried ham was 
our weakness ; so every time she came into the 
room, the first question was, mere skinke f mere 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



343 



skinke ? which she saw with delight we could 
understand, and I do believe the young ladies 
took a delight in giving an affirmative answer, 
even after they had really had enough. 

However, dinner w r as ended at last, in a most 
satisfactory manner, when I took a walk through 
the fields for half a mile, to the bank of the 
river, and there enjoyed half an hour or more 
watching some anglers who were having fine 
sport, for the fish seemed to be biting briskly, 
and the baskets were being rapidly filled. I 
could not tell what kind of fish they were, but 
probably trout. When I returned to the house 
we ordered breakfast for seven o'clock, and 
retired. W e were anxious to reach Lilleham- 
mer the next day, and so must take an early 
start. Thanks to the high latitude, we could 
ride late at night and still have the light of 
the sun to make us forget that it was late. 

The next morning we were off in good season, 
and made the stage to Oien at a rapid speed. 

The river had now received many laree trib- 
utaries, and was carrying an immense body of 
water over a very rocky bed and was almost 
a continued rapid. The day before we had 
noticed saw-logs drifting with the rapid current 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



which came in from the tributaries, mostly from 
the west side, having their rise in the lumber- 
regions, away in the mountains. We should call 
them saw-logs only by courtesy, for they looked 
more like telegraph poles than saw - logs. I 
should judge they ranged from six to eighteen 
inches in diameter at the butt, and were from 
ten to thirty feet in length ; indeed they were 
cut as long as the tree would admit. Still, small 
as they were, they were to be sawed into lumber. 
Although I did not visit any of the saw-mills, I 
learned that they are cut through and through, 
and then ed^ed into boards, cut to several lengths 
as each board could be dealt with to the best 
advantage. 

While Norway is a great lumber country, I 
saw no large trees or large logs ; they work up 
sticks which no one in this country would ever 
think of taking to a saw-mill. I have seen in 
the Rocky Mountains and the Black Hills, exten- 
sive tracts, densely covered with the same kind 
of timber, which, in the same way, could be cut 
into orood lumber, but which is now considered 
of no value for that purpose. 

We did not alight at Oien but changed horses 
as quickly as possible. Our driver was stimu- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



345 



lated by a carriage which drove up to the last 
station just as we were leaving, that evidently 
had taken an early start in order to get the lead, 
and thus stand a better chance to get fresh 
horses. This we were not disposed to yield, for 
experience had shown us that the greatest delay 
for horses occurs in the after part of the day, 
when those in the lead may meet with no deten- 
tion while the next coming may have to wait for 
hours. At -best, there must be several ahead of 
us who had taken the road at stations further 
on, and we could not afford to lose our advan- 
tage if we hoped to reach Lillehammer that 
night, which we had determined to do. 

Although we had a right to take a week to 
make the journey in, yet if we could make it in 
the more usual time of four days, all the better. 
All had stood the journey so well that there 
was a general desire to get through that night, 
although it would make a longer drive than we 
had yet had. 

We were off before the other carriage came 
in sight, and in fact we saw no more of them 
that day. 

The next was a short stage, the road was fine 
and all the way a down grade, and we made 



346 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



encouraging progress and reached Listad and 
drove up to the station before we expected it. 

After that we had a drive of nine miles to 
Skjseggestad, which we made at a rattling pace, 
which left the little beeears who beset the trav- 
eler along this part of the road, and who had 
been particularly numerous on the last route, 
little time to ask for alms. 

The only beggars I saw in Norway were 
along this part of this road. They consist of 
children who run alone the side of the carriage 
soliciting charity with wo-beo-one countenances, 
much as I have seen them in Italy. It seemed 
to have been adopted here, as we were informed, 
as a sort of a profession and not from want, so 
we did not allow our sympathies to be awakened 
to any very lively extent in their behalf, although 
it was really distressing to see how fast and how 
long they would run, with the hope of melting 
your obduracy. But I concluded that it was prob- 
ably a good exercise and would expand their 
lungs, harden up their muscles, and in the end 
make them great pedestrians. At least, I hope 
it did them eood. 

Travelers are requested by the authorities 
not to give to these beggars, as the only means 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



347 



of suppressing a nuisance ; all that charity de- 
mands has been provided by government. 

This day we saw the last of the snow mount- 
ains. Since we sighted the Norwegian coast on 
the morning of the 21st of June, we had every 
day been in sight of snow, and much of the 
time almost amongst it. 

We now viewed the last snow peak, as it was 
shut out by an intervening range, with interest, 
if not with -regret. It told us that we were get- 
ting back into a more southern if not a more 
hospitable country, although we knew we were 
a considerable way north of St. Petersburgh, 
which we had always been taught to consider 
as near the North Pole as Christians ought to 
live. 

We rushed on to Kerkestuen over the same 
smooth road we had had the whole day, with a 
gradual descent which just required the horses 
to keep out of the way of the carriage. The 
sun shone brightly and it was uncomfortably 
warm, but the atmosphere was pure, the drive 
exhilarating, the scenery beautiful rather than 
grand. 

The road is on the east side of the river all 
the way from Laurgaard, and most of the way 



348 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



close to the bank. The rapids, cascades and 
falls, where the wild leaping waters rushed around 
large rocks and through deep and tortuous chan- 
nels, formed a perpetual study, and I amused 
myself by imagining an American Indian in his 
bark-canoe, skillfully and successfully shooting 
the rapids. 

We passed Holmen without detention, and 
rapidly ; and now, as we had but one more change 
of horses before reaching Lillehammer, we were 
congratulating ourselves that we would termi- 
nate our journey by six o'clock, which was ear- 
lier than we had hoped for, at the best. 

When we reached Fossegaarden we met with 
a vexatious disappointment. The station is some 
distance off the road, upon a steep bluff more 
than one hundred feet above it. We stopped 
in the road and Rose took off the horses and 
led them up the zigzag track to the station, 
and after awhile returned and said the horses 
would be sent down in half an hour. 

The sun was beating down upon us in great 
force under the bluff, and we got out of the car- 
riage and sought shelter under the fence and 
some shrubbery by the way-side. 

The delay, though vexatious, was not without 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



349 



an interest. The river was a little way off and 
perhaps thirty or forty feet below us. A swift 
rapid commenced a quarter of a mile above and 
rushed down with a constantly accelerated cur- 
rent, which was divided in several places by 
huge rocks, till it pitched over a fall probably 
fifteen or twenty feet high. The face of the fall 
was considerably indented, the deepest channel 
being higher up the stream than on either side. 
The rapid continued for a considerable distance 
below the fall, where the water surged and 
foamed in an angry way as the current was 
opposed by many large rocks which showed their 
heads above it. 

The saw-logs, or rather long poles, as already 
described, were drifting singly down the current, 
at the rate, probably, of ten or twelve in a min- 
ute, and it was quite interesting to watch them. 
Several would start together at the head of the 
rapid, and run a race down as if upon a wager. 
Of course those nearest the middle channel al- 
ways won, unless they touched some obstacle 
which would thrust them out into slower water. 
But the most interesting feature was to watch 
them plunge over the fall. Some passed over 
endways and others sideways at' every imagina- 



350 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



ble angle. All disappeared with the plunge, and 
many did not reappear for one or two hundred 
feet. Frequently, if one passed over endways, 
though forty feet long, it would disappear, for a 
second or more, and would then, from a point 
fifty feet or more below the fall, shoot up verti- 
cally its whole length, and then fall over, always 
down the stream, showing that it retained the 
momentum which had been given to the top 
end by the current, which exactly brought it to 
a vertical position when it left the water. This 
exhibition only occurred in one place, showing 
that at an immense depth there was a rock with 
a smooth surface, the face of which was set at 
the exact inclination to fairly receive the end 
of the log as it made the plunge, and from this 
it rebounded as described. 

We soon got so that we could anticipate with 
confidence when to expect this exhibition, from 
the position of the log or pole. 

This, however, became wearisome, and so did 
all the other objects with which we tried to 
amuse ourselves, constantly watching the angle 
of the road which should bring the horses into 
view. 

At last, out of patience, I went up to Rose, 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



351 



who was quietly dozing on the box, and hastily 
cried out, strax hestes, and pointed toward the 
top of the hill. He scrambled up the steep 
foot-path, but it was two hours from the time 
of our arrival before the horses appeared. Had 
I not been of a very amiable disposition, I fear 
I should have been out of patience, for cer- 
tainly the two hours were as hard to endure 
there in the broiling sun as if we had been trav- 
eling with new objects all the while to cheer us. 

The nine miles to Lillehammer were made in 
an hour and a quarter. As we approached the 
lake, the valley spread out to a width of per- 
haps two miles, and was charmingly cultivated, 
and dotted all over with nice cottages, always 
a beautiful feature in a country landscape. 

Lillehammer is a very pretty place, at the 
head of Lake Mjosen. This is the largest lake 
in Norway. It is nearly seventy miles long, and 
is from half a mile to several miles in width. 
Its course is nearly north and south. It con- 
tains several islands, the largest of which is near 
midway of the lake, where it is the widest ; at 
which point it throws off an arm to the north- 
east, several miles in extent. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Lillehammer; docks at the landings; a garden of roses; 
honest horses; the falls; lake mjosen : effect of the 
Lisbon earthquake; Helgio; Hammer; Vormen river; 
Eidsvold, an historical city, cradle of Norwegian lib- 
erty; transfer of Norway to Sweden in 1810; the secret 
treaty; convention at Eidsvold in 1814; a king elected; 
the constitution of norway; king abdicates, and klng of 
Sweden elected King of Norway; incorruptibility of the 
Storthing; national independence. 

LILLEHAMMER is situated on two em- 
inences overlooking the lake, with a view 
up the valley of the Laagan. In the estuary at 
the mouth of the river, the floating timber we 
had seen drifting down the river was collected 
to an immense amount, and is thence trans- 
ported to different points on the lake to be cut 
up into lumber. 

We drove on directly through that part of 
the town situated on the first eminence, across 
the valley, which is well built up, to the Ham- 
mer hotel, which is built on the southern em- 
inence. Here we found comfortable rooms, in 
which we were soon established and ordered 
dinner. 



354 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



After dinner a walk through the town, in the 
neighborhood of the hotel, finally led to the 
edge of the high bluff, which rises rapidly from 
the shores of the lake to the height of at feast 
two hundred feet. This point affords a magnif- 
icent view of the lake and the opposite shore, 
and up the valley of the river, which empties 
into the lake at its very head. 

There are two docks at which the steamboats 
stop for passengers to accommodate those from 
the upper and lower parts of the town. The 
lower-dock with a comfortable station-house upon 
it is directly under this bluff. 

The streets of the town are broad and clean. 
The houses are mostly of wood ; look neat and 
clean, and are generally surrounded with gardens 
and lawns, and present an air of comfort and 
contentment. 

On my return I was invited into the flower 
garden belonging to the hotel. It was of con- 
siderable size, with clean gravel walks, and a fine 
variety of flowers now in full bloom. The vari- 
ety of roses was very fine, and altogether it 
presented a charming appearance ; especially as 
these were the first out-door flowers we had 
met with, of any considerable extent, since our 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



355 



first landing in Norway. A couple of summer- 
houses or arbors invited to a quiet seat, while 
the perfume of the flowers on the clear bracing 
atmosphere of the north enhanced the pleas- 
ures of rest after the fatiguing day's fide. 

. Back of the garden was a dense collection 
of shrubbery, through which were rambling walks, 
and beyond this an open lawn, across which 
was a foot-path which seemed to lead from the 
town above, down to the shores of the lake. 

In this path some parties met, between whom 
an altercation took place, which at first I thought 
threatened violence, but before they came to 
blows, some women rushed up and interposed 
and finally succeeded in separating them. There 
was not enough of this to be worthy of men- 
tion, except from the fact that it was the only 
thing approaching a personal altercation which 
I saw in Norway during my whole journey. I 
have no hesitation in saying that there is less 
crime and violence in Norway than in any 
other country in which I have traveled. 

Between ten and eleven o'clock the sun had 
gone down, and the shades of night actually 
began to gather around us. The approaching 
darkness produced an agreeable sensation, to 



356 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



which we had been long strangers, and I lin- 
gered in the garden till the lights of the lamps 
shone in the house. That night we went to 
bed by the light of a lamp, and went to sleep 
in good honest darkness. Our sleep was sound 
and sweet and the sun was high up before we 
awakened. 

We had not time or strength to visit the 
celebrated falls on the Usen river, back of 
Lillehammer. Those who have seen them con- 
sider them, as a series, the finest in Norway. 
The river tumbles down a rocky chasm, from 
a great altitude, by forty or fifty distinct leaps 
or falls, varying from ten to one hundred feet, 
which are connected by rushing, foaming rapids 
and cascades. What a pity Chicago has not 
even one of these' for hydraulic purposes ! A 
cotton mill and a few small flouring mills only 
use this immense power. To see these falls, in 
their extent and sublimity, the traveler must 
clamber up the rocky way on foot. In winter, 
no doubt, they present a grand spectacle. 

We took an early breakfast and got into a 
large, open ten-seated wagon, and behind two 
real horses — the first I had been behind in 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



357 



Norway — started for the steamboat landing, 
down a pretty steep hillside road. 

We were delighted to find the steamboat 
at the dock, so that we could step on board 
without the intervention of the waterman and 
his little boat, which constitutes one of the 
great annoyances of water travel in this coun- 
try. This was the first time in Norway we 
had been exempt from this inconvenience. On 
this lake • the steamers always go up to the 
docks, at their regular landing-places, and their 
officers seem to handle them with the neces- 
sary skill to do it safely and expeditiously. 

Lake Mjosen is a beautiful sheet of limpid 
water, of great depth, and is well peopled with 
a good variety of fish. I have already given 
its course and dimensions, when speaking ot 
the Norwegian lakes. It is not strictly a 
mountain lake, with bold, rocky shores, like 
those in the more mountainous regions, but 
lies between ridges, with sloping sides descend- 
ing from an altitude of several hundred feet 
to the water's edge. 

These slopes are evidently very fertile, and 
are everywhere dotted over with farmsteads, in a 
high state of cultivation, with nice rural homes 



358 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



and good barns and out-houses, interspersed with 
many groves of rather dwarfed trees. 

In sailing through this lake, we saw by far 
the richest agricultural country we had seen in 
Norway, and it is rarely surpassed in beauty. 
The lake commences at what may be called the 
foot of the mountains, and it extends from the 
mountains to the plains. Its lower end is in the 
plains of Norway ; its upper end is in the foot- 
hills, which gradually subside as we advance to 
the south. It reminded me more of the Seneca 
Lake of New York, and its broad, rich uplands 
on either side, than any other place I have ever 
seen, and I know not how to say more for the 
beauty of the lake and its surroundings than to 
give it this comparison. This only applies to 
the upper portion of the lake. 

Besides the regular landing which the steamer 
makes, there are many pretty little hamlets along 
the shores of the lake, and fine rural residences 
close to the water, with their little boat-houses, 
probably occupied as summer residences, and 
they looked like quiet retreats from city life. 
As we approached these, frequently boats would 
put out and intercept the steamer — which would 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



359 



change her course to meet them — and bring on 
board or take off passengers. 

It is a most remarkable circumstance related 
of this lake, that the great Lisbon earthquake of 
1 75 5 was felt by it to such an extent as to 
raise its waters, as if some monster beneath 
them was rising up from a long sleep, to the 
height of twenty feet or more, and then imme- 
diately subsided. This caused great destruction 
along its banks. The immense distance between 
these places seems to have been comparatively 
unaffected. From its receiving the drainage of 

o o 

an immense district of mountainous country, it 
is subject to sudden floods, which are sometimes 
very disastrous. 

After we had proceeded more than half the 
length of the lake, we reached the large island 
of Hilgio, which is situated in the broadest part 
of the lake, opposite which the largest arm of 
the lake is projected to the northeast. 

It is unnecessary to mention the various towns 
at which the steamer stopped ; the most impor- 
tant of which was Hammer, nearly in front of 
the large island. 

At Hammer are the ruins of an old church, 
claimed to be the oldest in Norway next to the 



360 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



great cathedral at Trondhjem. The ruins are on 
the lake beach, and may be seen from the 
steamer. 

At the foot of the lake is the considerable 
town of Minde. There we entered the river 
Vormen, which is the outlet of the lake, and 
ran down it for eight miles to Eidsvold, or 
Eidsvoldbakken, which is the end of the steam- 
boat route, and where we had to take rail for 
Christiana. 

Eidsvold, although a small interior town of 
little commercial importance, is the most famous 
town in Norway, and is looked upon with abso- 
lute reverence as the very cradle of Norwegian 
liberty. 

More than a thousand years ago, during and 
even before the time of Halvdan the Black, 
who died in 860, and was the father of Harold 
Haarfager, Eidsvold- was the capital of a rude 
democracy, which, however, acknowledged Halv- 
dan as its king. Here the people held their 
great assemblies, and by their direct votes passed 
their general laws, which were, no doubt, few 
and short and directly to the point. Whether 
they were written laws we do not know, but if 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



361 



they were I cannot learn that any vestiges of 
them have been handed down to posterity. 

Written laws are of comparatively modern 
date, and are evidence of a high advancement 
in civilization. The laws of the Great Lycurgus 
were never written, nor is there any evidence 
that Sparta was ever governed by a written code. 
The bloody laws of Draco, which were adopted 
for the government of Athens three hundred 
years after the time of Lycurgus, are the first, 
after the Mosaic laws, claimed to have been 
reduced to writing, and the probability is that 
all those little democracies which existed in 
Scandinavia in those rude and early times were 
governed by a few simple laws only preserved 
in the memories of men. 

Whether this ancient distinction claimed for 
Eidsvold had any influence in its selection as the 
seat for the vastly more important legislative 
events which it subsequently witnessed, I do not 
know. Let us now, for a few moments, turn our 
attention to those great events. 

In 1533, Norway favored Christian II. of Den- 
mark, who was finally defeated by Christian III., 
who revenged himself upon Norway and made 
it a dependence of Denmark, deprived it of its 



362 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



parliament and of its popular representation, 
and so as a Danish dependence it continued for 
nearly five hundred years, although, as time wore 
on, the fraternal feelings between the two peo- 
ples gradually increased till a decided feeling of 
loyalty for Denmark had grown up among the 
Norwegians, which was deeply lacerated when 
they were violently torn asunder. During this 
time much had been conceded to the independ- 
ence of Norway, including a parliament, with a 
show at least, and even much of the substance, 
of a representative government. 

In 1810, Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's gen- 
erals, the son of a notary of the Pyrenees, was 
elected Crown Prince of Sweden, and in the 
same year a secret treaty was made with Rus- 
sia, which was afterwards confirmed by the allied 
powers, guaranteeing Norway to Sweden in con- 
sideration that Sweden should join the allies 
against Napoleon. 

In 181 2, the Swedes actually joined the coali- 
tion in pursuance of the secret treaty, and 
Bernadotte led the Swedish army, which did effi- 
cient service toward the overthrow of the French 
Emperor. 

After this, Denmark was compelled by force 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



303 



of arms to submit to the terms of this treaty, 
and give up Norway. 

The Norwegians felt • outraged at being thus 
transferred like slaves without their knowledge 
or consent. Prince Christian, the heir-apparent 
to the Danish throne, who then held his court 
in Christiana, as governor-general of Norway, 
naturally sympathized with the Norwegians and 
called a convention to meet at the town of Eids- 
vold to consider the situation. The members of 
that convention were elected by the people, and 
a more courageous or patriotic body of men were 
never assembled to deliberate upon the welfare 
of an imperiled country. They combined the 
patriotism of our own continental congress which 
proclaimed our declaration of independence, with 
the wisdom of the convention which formed our 
national constitution. 

The convention met at Eidsvold on the iith 
of April, 1 8 14; declared the independence of 
Norway; elected Prince Christian their king; and 
framed and adopted the present constitution of 
Norway, which was accepted by the newly elected 
king. 

Although I have before spoken of the freedom 
secured by this constitution, I think a little ml- 



364 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



ler statement of its provisions, now that we are 
upon the very ground which gave it birth, may 
not be uninteresting. 

It provides first for the assembling of the 
great national congress, called the Storthing. 
The members of the Storthing are elected by 
the people, for the term of three years. 

Suffrage is not universal, but an elector must 
be a native of Norway, must be twenty- five years 
of age, and must have had a freehold or lease- 
hold interest of a farm in the country for five 
years and paying taxes thereon, or own real 
estate in town of the value of one hundred and 
fifty dollars. To be eligible to the Storthing, 
the candidate must be thirty years of age, and, if 
a foreigner, must have resided in Norway ten 
years. 

The Storthing is divided into an upper and a 
lower house. The former is called the Lagthing, 
and the lower the Odeltthing. The upper house 
is elected by the Storthing from its own mem- 
bers, and consists of one fourth of its number ; 
the three fourths remaining constitute the lower 
house. 

All acts must originate in the lower house, 
but they may be rejected or amended in the 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



3G5 



upper house, when they are sent back to the 
lower house as amended. After they have finally 
passed both houses, they are laid before the 
king, who may veto them. Yet this veto is not 
absolute, for if a bill passes three successive 
Storthings, it thereby becomes the law, notwith- 
standing the royal veto. In this way the law 
abolishing hereditary nobility in Norway was 
passed. 

The Storthing meets annually, formerly in 
October, but now in February. They convene 
by the mandate of the constitution, and without 
any call or proclamation of the king, who may, 
however, convene the congress on extraordinary 
emergencies, but at such extra sessions they can 
only pass laws to continue in force till the next 
regular session. 

The Storthing passes all laws for raising rev- 
enue, and for the public expenditures in every 
department of the government. At each session, 
through a committee of auditors, it examines all 
the government accounts and sees that no public 
moneys have been used except in strict pursu- 
ance of its appropriation ; except that ad interim 
the crown may make provisional grants, subject 



366 



4 SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



to the revision and approval of the Storthing at 
the next session. 

The Storthing has certain judicial functions, 
for it has power to impeach great officers of 
state, such as judges and ministers, and try them 
before a high court of impeachment, appointed 
from its own body. 

All public officers, from the king to the low- 
est, must take an oath to support this constitu- 
tion. The king must take the coronation oath 
in the presence of the Storthing, who receives it 
on behalf and in the name of the nation. 

This constitution was first accepted by Chris- 
tian, the crown prince of Denmark, when he was 
elected king of Norway, on the 17th of May, 
1 8 14. But when Bernadotte, with a Swedish 
army, too powerful to be opposed by the new 
king, attacked Norway, and offered the Norwe- 
gians the most favorable terms, with an assurance 
that their rights should be respected, Christian, 
on the 14th of August following, abdicated a 
throne which he was unable to defend. 

The Storthing then elected the old king of 
Sweden, Charles XIII., to be king of Norway. 
On the 14th of November the king formally 
accepted the constitution, and swore to observe 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



367 



and maintain it. The very first clause of this 
constitution, so accepted by the king, which was 
then modified to meet the emergency, declares 
that " Norway shall be a free state ; independ- 
ent, indivisible, and inalienable, united to Sweden 
under the same king" 

This most important -provision has been ever 
since maintained in all its letter and spirit, as 
well as all the other provisions of this organic 
law. No attempt appears to have been made to 
change it during the time of Charles XIII., but 
after his death in 1 8 1 8, when Bernadotte came 
to the throne as Charles John XIV., he desired 
to make some important changes, and exhausted 
every means in his power to induce the Stor- 
thing to consent to the changes, but it is said 
that not a single member could be found who 
would betray the high trust reposed in him by 
his constituents and barter away one jot or tittle 
of the liberties of his country ; and so has Nor- 
wegian patriotism vindicated itself, without a 
single taint or stain, and it ever seems to grow 
brighter and brighter, placing the love of coun- 
try high above individual or personal advantage. 

Surely this is a refreshing example, while it is 
a perpetual reproach to many public men of many 



368 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



other countries who affect to place themselves 
high above those sturdy northern fishermen ; but 
it is no less an example and a reproach to the 
people of other countries, for it is only when the 
people lower the standard of integrity and patri- 
otism that the public men will dare to do it. If 
a people cannot be corrupted, their representa- 
tives dare not be. 

Many have supposed that Norway was a mere 
appendage to and a dependence upon Sweden. 
This is no more true than that Sweden is ap- 
pended to and dependent upon Norway. The 
truth is, each is quite independent of the other 
so far as all internal affairs are concerned. In 
their foreign relations they are united, but upon 
equal terms. It is true that the principal resi- 
dence of the king is in Stockholm, simply because 
it is a more eligible place for the royal residence. 
It is a larger city and in a more southern latitude 
than Christiana. 

In case of the extinction of the present royal 
line, neither kingdom can elect a new sovereign 
without the concurrence of the other. In all 
public acts for Norway, the king is styled " King 
of Norway and Sweden," while in similar acts for 
Sweden he is styled " King of Sweden and Nor- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



369 



way." Each kingdom has its separate national 
flag. No legislative act in one kingdom can 
have the least force in the other, more than in 
Denmark or England. Those who have supposed 
that Norway was swallowed up by Sweden have 
simply jumped at the conclusion on the assump- 
tion that the original purpose of the treaty with 
Russia in 1810 had in fact been carried out, 
without tracing the acts of union to their final 
consummation. With a lower standard of public 
morality — with a less self-sacrificing patriotism 
in Norway — no doubt such would have been 
the case ; but a love of country, and unfaltering 
firmness, nowhere to be excelled, triumphed over 
the blandishments of royalty, the seductions of 
offered rewards and the threats of power, and 
secured everything for the weaker kingdom which 
she could desire or ask, and placed her upon a 
higher plane of independence and nationality 
than she had occupied within the last five hun- 
dred years ; so that the intrigues commenced 
against her in 18 10, which were designed for 
her national ruin, in the end redounded to her 
greatest good, and secured to her what she might 
not otherwise in a long time have attained, na- 
tional independence and national distinction. 
24 



370 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



The mansion-house in which the famous con- 
vention of 1 814 was held, and immortalized itself 
by so much wisdom and patriotism, has been 
since bought by the state, out of regard to the 
great events which took place beneath its roof, 
and is still held as a national fee. Who shall 
blame the Norwegian for taking off his hat when 
he enters its portals, or feeling a partiality for 
Eidsvoldbakken, where it is situate ? 



CHAPTER XXIII 



Leave Eidsvold by rail for Christiana; the hotel porter, 
his importance, his numerous functions, his qualifi- 
cations, dress and income; hear of the second chicago 
fire; difficulty in getting information; christiana 
Fjord and Christiana; ancient city of Osloe; environs 
of the capital; parks and palaces; parliament house; 
university and museum; other institutions; american 
consul; Mr. Bennett, the generous friend of trav- 
elers. 

WE have remained much longer at this 
celebrated town on the banks of the 
Vormen river, Avhich is the outlet of Lake 
Mjosen, contemplating the results of the events 
which it witnessed sixty years ago, than I had 
intended when we landed. 

At Eidsvold we took rail for Christiana, in 
comfortable cars, and found the road in fair con- 
dition for the amount of business done upon it, 
though of course the track could not compare 
with that on the great leading lines in this coun- 
try or in Europe. 

We were now quite beyond the mountains, 
and were traveling through a fair agricultural 

country, where the crops of rye, barley, oats, 

(371) 



372 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



potatoes and grass looked thrifty and promising, 
though, with rare exceptions, none were ready 
for the harvest, except the hay. We were yet 
too far north for wheat, or at least I had as yet 
seen no wheat-field in Norway. The houses — 
of course a large proportion of them were the 
cottages of the peasantry — looked snug and 
cheerful, and bespoke contentment. All had 
their eardens, in which the vegetables looked 
thriving, and the flowers cheerful and beautiful, 
for still the Norwegians of all ranks seemed to 
have a passion for gay and brilliant flowers. 

Both men and women were still at work in 
the fields, and all looked strong and robust. 
The common people were comfortably clad, and 
I nowhere saw evidence of squalid poverty. 

We reached Christiana after six o'clock in the 
evening, and went to the Scandinavian hotel, 
where we found comfortable quarters. Its name, 
no doubt, had some influence in taking me there, 
for I had already learned to like the name, but 
I had also received good reports of the house 
from some of my countrymen who had stopped 
there before. 

We here first met with an institution, which 
we afterwards found universal at all the hotels 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



373 



we visited in Scandinavia and Germany. Jt is 
the porter. With us this name implies the boot- 
black and the baggage-lifter. Here the word is 
more properly used to denote the doorkeeper. 
He is the most learned and best-informed man 
about the hotel, and has the most profitable 
position. 

He is dressed in gorgeous livery, with brass 
or gilt buttons, yellow facings and scarlet bind- 
ings, and as much tinsel as can be well attached. 
He has a little den of an office near the front- 
door. He receives the newly-arrived guests at 
the carriage-door, and closes the door after them 
whenever they depart, with a profusion of cour- 
tesies. He must be a master of all the modern 
languages, so that he can answer every traveler 
in his own tongue. He must know everything 
about the city, and be able to answer every in- 
quiry. If you want a carriage, he will order it 
in an instant. If you want an errand done, he 
has a boy at hand to do it. If you want a valet 
de place, he can recommend one without a second 
thought. If you want an interpreter, he is at 
your service ; for all which services he expects a 
gratuity, the amount of which he leaves to your 
generosity, and in Scandinavia he is satisfied 



374 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



with a very reasonable amount. Even small 
contributions from so many guests make a large 
income, and at some places I learned that the 
porters were the principal owners of the hotels. 

After we passed into Germany I found the 
amount expected by the porters was much in- 
creased, as well as the hotel charges. Indeed, 
money was becoming much cheaper, and so had 
less purchasing power. 

Probably these porters will find their way into 
northern Norway so soon as foreign travel shall 
have so increased as to require their services 
and make the position profitable. As yet, sim- 
pler habits prevail and suffice for the compara- 
tively few who go there. 

There were several others about our hotel 
who spoke English very well. 

My first inquiry was for a London Times of 
the 17th July. On the steamer on Lake Mjosen, 
soon after we left Lillehammer, a German, who 
had come up from - Christiana the day before, 
had introduced himself to me by inquiring, in 
very imperfect English, if I was from America ; 
and when he learned I was from Chicago, his 
wife said at once, " Oh, Chicago is burning up 
again ! " This of course startled me, but they 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



375 



could give me no further information than that 
they had seen in a German paper the statement 
taken from the London Times of the 17th of 
July, that Chicago was again in flames, and had 
been burning for a day or so. 

It may be imagined, then, that I was anxious 
for more particulars, and, if possible, to learn 
the extent of the disaster. My German friend 
stopped at the same hotel, and spared no effort 
to find the desired paper, but without success, 
although one was found of a later date, in which 
there was no mention of the subject At last, 
however, he succeeded in finding a German 
paper, with a paragraph about an inch long 
referring to the subject. This the clerk of the 
hotel translated for me with some difficulty, for 
although he spoke English intelligibly in conver- 
sation, he found difficulty in finding English ex- 
pression for the ideas which he received from 
the paper, and but for the suggestions I could 
make from my familiarity with names and places, 
I think we should have failed at last. When 
the paragraph was mastered, we found it stated 
that on the 14th of July all that part of Chicago 
between Harrison and Twelfth streets, and be- 



376 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



tween the river and the lake, was consumed, but 
that now the fire was subdued. 

Even this, exaggerated as to the extent of 
the fire as it proved to be, was a great relief, 
for it showed that Chicago was not again left a 
complete desolation, although I had many friends 
with whom I must sympathize for their losses. 

With this information we had to be content 
till we arrived at Copenhagen, some two weeks 
later, where I found a Chicago daily of the 15th 
July, which gave us the correct information as 
to the extent of the fire, which proved to be 
much less than the first statement indicated. 

Till we arrived in Christiana, we had not seen 
a newspaper in our own language since we left 
England, nearly two months before, and it is 
difficult, without this experience, to understand 
with what avidity we seized upon the English 
papers, and it mattered little whether they were 
old or new. 

Christiana, the modern capital of Norway, is 
situated at the head of one arm of the great Chris- 
tiana fjord which extends into the country nearly 
due north for about sixty miles from the German 
Ocean. This fjord is in many places very broad, 
but is sometimes contracted to a very narrow 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



377 



channel. In many places it has bold and rocky 
shores with fine scenery, affording an excursion 
of great interest to the traveler whose tastes in- 
cline him to admire the beauties of nature. 

Although in the south part of Norway, Chris- 
tiana is still north of Stockholm and St. Peters- 
burg, and is the largest city in the world in so 
high a latitude. It has now a population of 
nearly eighty thousand souls, with a thriving 
commerce. 

The people are industrious and energetic, and 
exhibit none of those torpid characteristics which 
are met with in old and worn-out nationalities. 
Those you meet in the streets step with an alac- 
rity and energy which suggest that they have 
something to do — that they have a definite ob- 
ject in view which they resolve to accomplish 
while they yet have time. 

The ancient city of Osloe was founded in the 
eleventh century, and became a city of note in 
southern Norway. After the union of the 
kingdom with Denmark, in 1380, or at any rate, 
after the execution of the act of union between 
Denmark, Norway and Sweden, called the union 
of Kalmar, under the management of the great 
Margaret, in 1397, Osloe became the capital of 



378 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



Norway. In this capital James VI. of Scotland, 
afterwards James I. of England, was married to 
Anne, of Denmark. 

In 1624, during the time of Christian IV., 
king of the united kingdoms, this ancient city 
was destroyed by fire, and near its ruins the king 
founded the present city, and named it for him- 
self. Christiana is therefore only about two hun- 
dred and fifty years old, — a young city, indeed, 
to have out-stripped all its rivals in so old a 
countrv, though to one who had seen a city in 
the new world in the course of forty years grow 
from a little hamlet of two hundred people to a 
city of four hundred thousand, it did not appear 
quite so juvenile or marvelous. 

The location of the city is very fine, on roll- 
ing ground on the shores of the beautiful fjord, 
which is .dotted over with beautiful and fertile 
islands. The country back of it may be called 
hilly rather than mountainous, and, at the time 
of my visit, was burthened with crops ready for 
the harvest. Then, of all other times, a country 
is most beautiful ; and then it is, no doubt, that 
one is inclined to form a partial opinion. Drop- 
ping down as it were from the sterile north, it 
seemed to me almost like the Garden of Eden 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



379 



— especially when now, for the first time, I saw 
on every hand a variety of fruits already ripen- 
ing, as well as flowers. 

In the environs of the city are many beauti- 
ful villas and mansions which bespeak refinement, 
affluence and luxury. Particularly may be noticed 
Ladegarsoen, a very fine royal park in which is 
Oscar Hall, a royal palace or villa presenting a 
charming rural aspect. 

The -only military academy in Norway is here 
situated. Also the fort Akershus, where state 
prisoners are confined ; as well as the principal 
arsenal of the kingdom. 

The new royal palace is a plain, substantial 
structure, composed of perfect ashlers, and its 
very solidity gives it an imposing appearance. 

Opposite the palace is the new parliament 
house, which is also a stone structure, .-without 
ostentatious adornment, but of substantial pro- 
portions, and has an air of solid business rather 
than fanciful display, as is fitting for the meet- 
ing-place of a legislature composed mostly of 
country gentlemen and well-to-do farmers, whose 
liberal and enlightened views are vouched not 
only by the general laws which they pass for 
the orovernment of the kingdom, but bv the lib- 



380 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



eral appropriations which they make for the 
advancement of science and of learning. 

To the right, and between the royal palace 
and the parliament, is situated the only state 
university in Norway, which is in a flourishing 
condition, whose professors rank high in the sci- 
entific world, and among men of letters. Of all 
things, I was most interested in our visit to the 
Royal University Museum, so ably directed by 
Professor Esmark, who, although at a time when 
the museum was not open to the public, admit- 
ted us, and gave us half a day of his valuable 
time, personally explaining the various objects of 
interest. 

This museum is not only rich in Norwegian 
objects, but its collections from other parts of 
the world are of great value ; especially the birds 
of America, collected here by the professor him- 
self, and beautifully mounted and arranged, are 
of especial value. 

He soon discovered that I took most interest 
in the zoological department, and he was un- 
wearied in his explanation of the peculiar char- 
acteristics and habits of the various Norwegian 
specimens. I fear I shall never have an oppor- 
tunity to repay his kindness. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



381 



In Christiana is also situated the Bodsfangsel, 
the prison of penitence, where the prisoner is in 
the strictest solitude. During his imprisonment 
he never sees nor speaks to a human being, nor 
hears a human voice, except the voice of the 
chaplain, whose sermon he can hear on Sunday, 
but without seeing him. His cell is well lighted 
from above, and he is supplied with the means 
of working and reading. 

This prison is selected for the. prisoners from 
the higher ranks of society, and prisoners of re- 
finement often choose this to avoid the associa- 
tions of prison-life and the gaze of visitors. 

I may mention here that capital punishment 
is executed by decapitation. 

I must not omit to mention the attention 
shown us by the American consul, Mr. Gerhard 
Gabe, while we remained in Christiana. He 
seemed to anticipate everything that could oblige 
us, even in the smallest as well as in more im- 
portant matters. If he attends to his official 
business — and I have no doubt he does — with 
as much assiduity as he does to the social rela- 
tions which may affect Americans, surely no 
better representative could have been found. He 
took the trouble to inform Professor Esmark of 



382 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



my presence in the city, and made all necessary 
arrangements for our meeting at the museum ; 
and when I inquired where I could find some 
articles I wished to purchase, he insisted upon 
going in person with me to find them. May his 
shadow never grow less ! 

A notice of Christiana would be quite incom- 
plete without a mention of T. Bennett, who is an 
Englishman, and for more than twenty years a 
resident of Christiana, where he has established 
himself as an aid to travelers. He personifies 
the " Christiana Carriole Company," but the fur- 
nishing of carrioles, either for hire or purchase, 
by no means constitutes the only aid which he 
can furnish the traveler. He publishes an annual 
guide to Norway, containing much valuable infor- 
mation (and some mistakes I find), to the trav- 
eler, although I must say that its appearance 
this year, at least, was so late that it was of 
little use to me, as I could only get a copy dur- 
ing the last hour of my stay in Christiana, when 
I was just on the eve of starting for Sweden, 
and even this was an advance copy. To issue 
a guide-book for the year, after the traveling sea- 
son is practically over, is a little tardy, to say 
the least ; but when he described the painful 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



383 



labor and wrestling he had had almost day and 
night with his printer, I forgave him with all 
my heart. 

I could not find a copy of the last year's 
edition, either in London or Trondhjem, and so 
I must conclude that he does not push the sale 
of his book with great energy. The information 
which it contains of Norwegian travel, if gener- 
ally disseminated, would tend to increase the 
number of -visitors to that country very much. 
But he serves the traveler in other ways besides. 
He keeps an assortment of photographs and 
specimens and curiosities and trinkets of the 
country, for sale, and allows you to have letters 
sent to his care, which he will forward as di- 
rected, and appears really anxious to accommo- 
date you in every way in his power. I would 
recommend travelers to call on T. Bennett, al- 
though only those who commence their journey- 
ings in the country at the capital can receive 
the most assistance from him. As it was, we had 
little opportunity to benefit each other. 



CHAPTER XXIV 



Leave Christiana by rail; Kongsvinger; indifferent ac- 
commodations; ABSENCE OF CARPETS IN NORWAY HOTELS; 
cross the Swedish line; Avika; a wheat-field; Laxa; a 
long and wearisome delay ; gross mismanagement of rail- 
WAYS; the German system; Stockholm; the Grand Ho- 
tel; THE NORTHERN VENICE; WATER TRANSIT; ABANDON THE 

trip to Russia; the Gotha slack-water canal; Wener 
lake; Trolhcetta falls; southern Sweden; Gothenburg 
to Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne; up the Rhine; 
Heidelburg; Baden-Baden; Zurich and Lucerne; up the 
Riga; Rhone glacier; Geneva; Paris; London; Liver- 
pool ; New York. 

TO one familiar with the language, I judge 
the time-tables for the railways are not 
easily understood, for Mr. Bennett, who kindly 
volunteered to assist me, had to go to the sta- 
tion-agent to get the necessary information, and 
to me they were as unintelligible as the hiero- 
glyphics on the old Egyptian columns. 

By his aid I learned I could leave in the af- 
ternoon and run out to Kono-svineer, and there 
lay over night, and take the train in the morn- 
ing, or start at five o'clock in the morning on 
the same train. Of course we adopted the 

former plan. 

H (385) 



386 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



Having finished our proposed stay at the 
capital of Norway, about three o'clock in the 
afternoon we took the cars on our way to Stock- 
holm. 

We went over the same road we had come, 
toward Eidsvold, as far as Lillestrom junction, 
where we branched off to the right, still holding 
a northerly direction till we reached Korsmo. 
Here the road turns to the southeast to Kones- 
vinger, our night station. With this change in 
our course, we fairly set our faces to the south, 
and every hour's travel thereafter took us into 
more southern latitudes and into a warmer cli- 
mate. 

We were on a slow train, and did not reach 
Kongsvinger till nine o'clock in the evening, but 
as the sun was yet well up in the heavens, it 
did not seem so late as the same hour would in 
November at the same place. As I had tele- 
graphed for rooms, we found them ready, and 
took possession and ordered supper. Well, I 
must admit that we found better accommoda- 
tions at some other places in Norway than at 
Kongsvinger, and a better table too ; still, a dis- 
position to make the best of it took us through 
nicely ; but the short, narrow bed tried my pa- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



387 



tience as well as my person, and I was strongly 
inclined to demolish the nuisance and sleep on 
the floor, but better counsels prevailed, and the 
furniture remained uninjured. 

I have not, I believe, mentioned that their 
extravagance does not run to carpets in bed- 
rooms. That was a luxury with which I never 
had occasion to reproach the Norwegian hotels. 
In our effeminacy, we found the cold floor to the 
bare feet not always a delight ; but then we man- 
aged to get along very well by taking our own 
blankets, or some of our garments, and spreading 
them in front of the beds. Some times, if I had 
occasion to cross the room, I remember I had 
to step nimbly, and, I fear, frequently an un- 
kind word would escape * me. Indeed, on such 
occasions I think I was rarely complimentary in 
my remarks upon the habits of the country, and 
at Kongsvinger I believe I was even less so 
than usual, for I well remember that I took no 
pleasure in undoing the bundle of blankets for 
the sole purpose of remedying this defect in 
Norwegian furnishing, and I could not forget 
how much trouble it had cost me to do them up 
so nicely, and that the same work would have to 
be done over again in the morning. 



388 



A SUMMER IX NORWAY. 



No matter ; we got to sleep as the shades of 
evening closed around us, and then of course 
all the troubles of travel were forgotten, for the 
time at least. 

This afternoon we had passed through a much 
tamer country than we had been so long accus- 
tomed to in northern Norway, but it was in a 
fair state of cultivation, though the crops were 
not heavy, indicating a light soil. ' The houses 
of the peasants looked comfortable, and the gar- 
dens showed that the taste for flowers still pre- 
vailed, while some fruit trees were observed, but 
they were not very abundant. 

Bv eight o'clock the next morning we were 
at breakfast, which gave us a little time to walk 
through the town before the arrival of the train, 
which was due at nine o'clock. 

In former times, when war was the business or 
the pastime of the peoples of Sweden and Nor- 
way, this was a town of note in a military point 
of view, being favorably situated for defensive 
purposes, but now the old citadel which over- 
looked the river Glommen, which winds itself 
around the promontory on which the fortress 
stands, and the town below, is now gone to ruin, 
and, like the town itself, has lost its dignity and 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



389 



ceased to be important. Really if there was 
anything in the town worth describing it escaped 
my observation, and so we will pass it by and 
go on our way. 

The train arrived on time, and we got on 
board and pursued our way through a country, 
agricultural all the way, but not particularly inter- 
esting. Sometimes a ragged, rocky bluff would 
relieve the monotony of the scene, and sometimes 
a beautiful view would be obtained through an 
evergreen grove, but that was all. The harvest 
of the fields of rye was in progress, but the crop 
was rather light, at least so they seemed to one 
accustomed to the luxuriant crops grown on the 
western prairies of America. Our route was 
down the valley of the Vrangs Elv, a consider- 
able river leading into Sweden, and emptying 
into Lake Wener. 

Toward noon we passed the Swedish frontier, 
which is marked with monuments of loose stone, 
and soon after arrived at Avika, the frontier town, 
where we had to change cars and have our bag- 
gage examined. 

By some accident our trunks had not been 
taken off at Kongsvinger the night before, but 
this gave me little trouble, as I knew they would 



390 



A SUMMER IX XORWAY. 



be stopped at the frontier, which was one of the 
consolations (and be assured they are very few) 
derived from the necessity of having vour trunks 
overhauled whenever you enter one country from 
another. 

There is but one way for the traveler to eet 
along with this obstruction pleasantly, and that is 
to have nothing dutiable alone, or else to declare 
it at once, and to open all or so many of the 
trunks as required, without the least show of 
reluctance or displeasure, and without ostentation. 

Here I found the trunks as I expected, and 
when I inquired, as best I could, which I should 
open, the Swedish inspector looked pleasantly at 
me for a moment and then turned away with a 
gesture which told me that I need not open any 
of them. 

Although we were detained here for nearly an 
hour I had no opportunity of viewing the town, 
which I should have done with satisfaction had 
time permitted, as it is a manufacturing point of 
some importance of about one thousand inhab- 
itants. Especially should I have been pleased to 
examine the glass and iron works, and compared 
them with similar establishments in our own 
country. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



391 



At last we started off on the Swedish railway, 
and looked about us for something new in a 
country not before visited. This afternoon I saw 

the first wheat field since I left England. 

<_> 

About ten o'clock at night we arrived at Laxa, 
having skirted around the north end of the great 
lake Wener. 

At Laxa, we struck the main line of road 
from Gothenburg to Stockholm, and found our- 
selves suddenly brought to a standstill, and were 
told we must wait till two o'clock in the morning- 
when the train from Gothenburg would arrive, 
on which we could proceed to Stockholm. I at 
once sallied out to find a place to sleep, but was 
informed at the station-house that to find a bed 
was impossible ; that if I had been in time I 
might have got chairs to sit in, but they were 
now all occupied, and this I could plainly see 
was the case. The moment the train had stopped 
there had been a rush by those who understood 
the matter, who threw themselves into all the 
vacant chairs, and there they sat, without ven- 
turing to leave them for fear their squatter's 
claim would be jumped. 

A gentleman on the train, who spoke English 
very well, had kindly volunteered to interpret for 



392 A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 

me, and how went with me to find the conductor 
or guard who had brought us down, who readily 
consented that we might remain in the compart- 
ment of the car, where the ladies still were, till 
the other train should come up, but we must 
take the responsibility of being awake when the 
train should arrive. This, of course, we were 
quite willing to do, for the prospect of sleeping 
was but very indifferent at best. 

I fixed up as comfortable a place as possible on 
the seat for the invalid, and then seated myself in 
one corner to ruminate on the situation. I con- 
fess I was not happy ; indeed I chewed the cud of 
bitterness, but could gather little consolation from 
the process. For myself I could do any way, but 
for the ladies, and especially the invalid, it was 
quite different. Here upon a great line of travel 
between the capitals of Norway and Sweden, four 
hundred miles apart, which should have been run 
through directly in fifteen hours at most, we must 
be nearly two days, and trotted around from one 
train to another ; and now to be stopped in the 
night, without the least provision for the com- 
fort of the passengers during this unnecessary 
delay, which in no other country would have 
been thought of for a moment, was beneath the 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



393 



management of a tribe of nomadic Lapps. It is 
an abuse of travelers which should be remedied 
at once. I understood that last year the train 
did run directly through, but there was disagree- 
ment as to the time it took. 

When I got into Germany I could not help 
drawing- a contrast between the manner in which * 
the railways are managed and run there and here. 
There, for instance, we left Berlin at twelve M. and 
reached Cologne, four hundred and three miles, 
at nine p. m., which is the regular schedule time. 
I noted the stops on the way, which aggregated 
nearly an hour and a quarter, making the actual 
running time less than eight hours. Here, in 
Norway and Sweden, we were three or four 
times as long making the same distance and 
with great discomfort. 

I advise all travelers to avoid railroads in 
these countries till their disreputable manage- 
ment is improved. 

I do believe I am not hard to please, and am 
disposed to make the best of whatever betides 
me when traveling, but I cannot go so far as to 
make everything lovely when I can see no dis- 
position or desire to accommodate the public by 



394 



A SUMMER IA r NORWAY. 



those who are entirely dependent on public pat- 
ronage. 

Well, now I have had my growl at the most 
disreputable thing I saw during the entire jour- 
ney, so I will dismiss those railroad managers, 
I hope for ever. 

We have now got through with our Recol- 
lections of Norway, which was the extent of my 
undertaking- wrien I commenced these jottings • 
but as I do not like to end with a growl an 
account of a journey filled with so many pleas- 
ing memories, we will take a rapid flight over 
the rest of the trip, just enough to indicate the 
route, and to get us as far away as possible from 
Laxa, the very name of which I dislike above 
all things. 

W e arrived in Stockholm before noon, and 
found quarters in the new Grand Hotel, which 
was first opened to travelers that day. All 
things considered, this we found the best hotel 
I have ever patronized in Europe. Rooms, fur- 
niture, table and service, were unexceptionable, 
and in a magnificent structure. 

This northern Venice, as it has been some- 
times called, is a fine city, many quarters of which 



PERPETUAL DA 1 



are much modernized. Its fine streets, its exten- 
sive and well-kept parks and public grounds, its 
well-docked waterways which separate the sev- 
eral islands on which it stands, have left a very 
pleasing remembrance of our week's visit to the 
capital of Sweden. 

I should judge three fourths of the local trav- 
eling is done by water. Little screw steamers 
of ten or fifteen tons dart about like swallows, 
and take you from one place to another with 
wonderful celerity. 

I took passage on two different Russian steam- 
ers for St. Petersburg, but sickness of one of the 
party compelled us to give up Russia altogether. 
We then took passage on the steamer for Goth- 
enburg, which would give the invalid about three 
days' quiet on inland navigation. All travelers 
in Sweden should take this canal in their route 
if they can spare the time. This is truly a great 
national work, of which the Swedes may well be 
proud. It connects the Baltic with the German 
Ocean at Gothenburg 

It is not a continuous canal, but consists of 
ten different sections of canal, connecting seas, 
bays, rivers and lakes, so as to make a continu- 
ous ship navigation over an elevated district of 



396 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



country, the summit being nearly four hundred 
feet above the level of the sea. The lakes con- 
nected are seven in number, some very small and 
others almost inland seas. The two largest lakes 
are Wettern and Wener, the last the western of 
the series and the largest lake in Sweden. 

It shows great engineering skill, and the work 
is well executed. The locks are all of well- 
dressed stone, and as well constructed as any 
I have ever met with. It passes through a fine 
country in a high state of cultivation, and many 
flourishing manufacturing towns, where some of 
the finest Swedish iron is made. 

After passing out of the Wener lake through 
a canal into the Gotha river, which is the outlet 
of the great lake, we had a fine opportunity of 
viewing" the celebrated Trolhcetta falls while 
the steamer was passing through the locks, the 
captain acting as guide. 

One system of business on this steamer is 
worthy of note, as on all the other steamers in 
Scandinavia, the passage paid does not include 
the board, which is paid for by the card, and 
yet the steward keeps no account against the 
passengers, but each one is obliged to keep his 
own account. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



397 



A small book hangs by the door of the 
dining saloon, with a pencil attached by a string, 
each passenger as he passes out takes down this 
book and makes an entry against himself of 
what he or his party has had, and from these 
entries alone his account is made up at the end 
of the voyage. I venture to say that there is 
less lost by this mode than as if the steward 
should keep the accounts himself, and then there 
are no disputes when the accounts are settled. 
When the steward keeps the account he is con- 
stantly making mistakes, charging one with what 
another has had. 

The day before we reached Gothenburg a 
gale of wind set in from the southwest. We 
waited three days for this to subside, designing 
to go to Copenhagen by water, but as it still 
raged we concluded to take the circuitous route 
by rail, which after all had its advantages, for it 
enabled us to see the country, which we should 
have missed had we gone by water. The south- 
ern part of Sweden we found an interesting and 
fertile country. 

We stopped over night on the way, arriving 
at Malmo on the coast opposite Copenhagen 
about noon. Two hours on the steamer brought 



398 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



us to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, 
where we spent a few days very pleasantly and 
profitably. 

We then took rail to Hamburg. 

Although, the through route by rail is longer, 
it is a day route, and avoids the uncomfortable 
changes from cars to steamer and then again to 
cars in the night ; and especially it gave us a 
fine view of that level prairie-like country, rich 
and highly cultivated, where are pastured those 
great herds of cattle which, to a very large ex- 
tent, supply the London market. 

We arrived at Hamburg late in the evening, 
and, after spending a few days in that ancient 
city, proceeded to Berlin by rail. On this road 
we had the finest and most comfortable apart- 
ment I have ever seen in a railway car in 
Europe-. This afternoon's ride was an interest- 
ing one, through a fine country and highly culti- 
vated. 

It does not comport with my present purpose 
to give an account of the many interesting objects 
worthy the attention of the foreign traveler in 
the capital of the German Empire, and the rich 
art treasures at Potsdam, surpassing almost any 
to be found elsewhere. 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



399 



The echo chamber, in the palace of the Prince 
Imperial, is undoubtedly the finest thing of the 
kind in the world ; a sharp sound, as the clap- 
ping of the hands, returned eight distinct echoes. 

From Berlin we proceeded to Cologne by way 
of Hanover. The rapid afternoon's ride of over 
fifty miles an hour I have already spoken of. 

From Cologne we passed up the Rhine and 
to Heidelburg, and from thence to Baden-Baden, 
once the celebrated gambling center of the world. 
Since the change of government to the Germans 
the gambling-tables are removed from the saloons, 
which are now appropriated to less exciting 
amusements. 

From Baden-Baden we went to Zurich in Swit- 
zerland, and thence to Lucerne by rail, spending 
a few days in each of these places. 

From Lucerne we went up the lake to Fluel- 
len, stopping on the way to ascend the Rega on 
the railway with a grade of one foot in four, after 
Marsh's invention, and by him applied to the 
ascent of Mt. Washington. 

At Fluellen we took a carriage and passed 
over the Furka pass, stopping by the way to visit 
the Rhone glacier, which of itself is worthy of a 
full description ; thence down the Rhone valley to 



•400 



A SUMMER IN NORWAY. 



Sierra, where we struck the railroad to the head 
of the Geneva lake, and down the lake by 
steamer. After a good rest at Geneva, and seeing 
the sights, we proceeded to Paris by way of 
Dijon. 

After three weeks in Paris without much rest, 
observing the changes which had taken place in 
the last nine years, and revisiting objects pre- 
viously examined, we were off to London by way 
of Calais. In the depot at Paris, some light- 
fingered gentleman, perhaps thinking he could 
make better use of my notes of the journey than 
I could myself, managed to relieve me of my 
note-book, so that I have had to depend princi- 
pally upon memory in giving the incidents and 
observations above. 

Perhaps the reader should not regret this 
loss, for probably it has shortened the account, 
and so lightened his labors in the perusal. 

We had an exceptionally quiet passage across 
the channel but had to climb high stone steps, 
covered with marine mosses saturated with wa- 
ter, when we landed at Dover, which was very 
unfortunate for some of the party. 

We reached London about eight o'clock in 
the evening, and went to the Westminster Pal- 



PERPETUAL DAY. 



401 



ace Hotel, which was a great mistake, for we 
were nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes, which 
were almost as pertinacious as gallmippers, and 
bid defiance to mosquito-bars. 

This is said to be the only place in London 
where these pests are found. Here they have 
maintained themselves for years, in spite of fu- 
migation and all other means to expel them. 
Why they do not colonize is an interesting 
question for the naturalist. 

We spent a week in London, and then pro- 
ceeded to Liverpool, and took the Baltic, which 
proved her sea-worthiness in a severe gale, 
which lasted but two days. 

After a voyage of ten days we safely landed 
in New York, having been absent little more 
than six months, which were as full of interest- 
ing travel as I have ever enjoyed ; the pleasure 
of which has been repeated by this retrospect. 






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